


Agents of SHIELD: Endgame

by fluffyfitz



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018), Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Runaways (TV 2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 33
Words: 28,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23856556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffyfitz/pseuds/fluffyfitz
Summary: Taking place shortly after the Season 5 Finale of Agents of SHIELD, the agents lives are turned upside down after Thanos snaps his fingers, erasing half of all life. The remaining agents team up with the remaining Avengers in a race against time to reverse the Snap, bringing back those they have lost. But will they lose themselves in the process?
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Comments: 118
Kudos: 93





	1. Finding Fitz

“Simmons… Jemma... JEMMA! Wake up!”

Jemma Simmons wakes with a jolt. Daisy Johnson is standing above Jemma, shaking her. Jemma hears beeping coming from the front of the Quinjet.

“Wha-” Jemma begins to say, confused.

“We got a pin on his location, Jemma. The Quinjet located him in deep space. We found him Jemma. We found Fitz.” Daisy explains, clearing trying to keep her voice from cracking.

Jemma jumps out of her bed and runs down to the cockpit of the Quinjet. She looks down at the navigation system. She can’t see it because her eyes are filled with tears.

She hadn’t expected to find Fitz this quickly. He had only died a couple of days ago and now they were so close to finding his cryofreeze pod from when he froze himself to get to the future. She still had nightmares from thinking of his last moments. He was trapped underneath a pile of rubble. He only thought his legs were broken and that he would be fine. He wasn't. A piece of metal lodged itself halfway through his torso. Jemma shivered at the thought of her husband not even knowing he was dying. But that didn’t matter anymore. She was going to see him again. It was only a matter of time.

“Where is he? How far away are we from him?” Jemma asks Daisy, choking on her tears.

“We are only one jump point away. We should be there in a couple of minutes. Strap yourself down and take a couple of deep breaths Jemma. Don’t want you dying of a heart attack before you see him again.” Daisy jokes. She then climbs into the pilot seat, flicks a couple of switches and pulls down a large lever. The engine of the Quinjet jumps to a start and they launch themselves through the jump point. 

As they travel through the jump point, Jemma looks outside the window of the Quinjet. She looks in awe at the wonderful array of colors flashing right in front of her eyes. Just a couple of years ago, she wouldn't have believed the technology could exist to travel space at such a rapid speed, while also giving such a beautiful light show. She hadn't believed it possible to travel to other planets outside our Solar System, or in magic instead of science, or that time wasn't fixed. She was so naive. Now, she had been to outer space, traveled to other planets, experienced magic right in front of her own eyes, and broken a time loop. 

The Quinjet slows to a stop. They have reached their destination. The navigation systems of the Quinjet beep loudly, signifying that they are closing in on Fitz's location. Jemma scans the empty space around them for the spaceship containing Fitz's pod. 

"There!" Jemma shouts in excitement, pointing out into the darkness of space. 

Daisy grabs the controls of the Quinjet and they speed towards Fitz. They both joyously laugh and cry tears of joy. 

"This is it Jemma," Daisy says through her tears, "We found him."

Daisy lands the Quinjet onto Fitz's spaceship and with the press of a few buttons, connects to the ship, opening the entrance.

Jemma and Daisy both jump out of their seats and run towards the exit of the Quinjet. Daisy let's Jemma go first, knowing how much this means to her. Jemma jumps down the hatch, into Fitz's ship. She scans the hallways, looking for Fitz. 

"Jemma Simmons. You should not be here." a familiar voice states monotonously. 

Jemma turns around to find the source of the voice. Enoch is standing in the hallway, perfectly straight except for a cocked head. Jemma runs up to him and gives him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. 

"We did it Enoch!" Jemma shouts in joy, "We saved the world!"

"I do not understand." Enoch responds. "How is this possible." 

"Time's not fixed Enoch! Fitz will be overjoyed!" Jemma says. "Where is he?" Jemma asks impatiently, looking over Enoch's shoulder. 

"Right this way." Enoch states. He leads them down a long hallway and turns a corner. 

Jemma freezes. She sees the pod containing Fitz. Tears streaming down her face, she runs up to the pod, presses a few buttons, and flings it open. 

Fitz wakes up with a gasp. Jemma lets out a loud cry and hugs him before he can get out of the pod. 

"Jemma? What are you doing here? I was supposed to find you." Fitz asks, confused as he climbs out of the pod.

"We did it Fitz, we saved the world! Time isn't fixed!" Jemma explains as she looks into his bright blue eyes for the first time in days. 

"What? You're being serious?" Fitz questions in his Scottish accent. 

Jemma nods her head, unable to keep herself from crying. 

Fitz, still readjusting and confused, gives Jemma a kiss. 

"I missed you." Fitz tells Jemma. 

Jemma sobs.

Fitz closes his eyes and embraces Jemma once more. 

"Fitz?" Jemma whispers in his ear, sounding a little concerned. 

"Yes, Jemma?" Fitz responds but suddenly his hands seemingly go through her back. Fitz's heart skips a beat. He opens his eyes and looks at Jemma. She isn't there. All he sees is what seems to be ash. He holds out his hands as the ash falls to the ground. 

Fitz's mouth is widened with shock and confusion. He looks over at Daisy, her eyes wide with terror. 

A loud thunderous snap shakes the air around them, even in the void of space.


	2. The Decimation

"Enoch..." Fitz says in a low, quivering voice. "What just… what just happened?". 

"I am detecting a catastrophic event across the cosmos." Enoch states. "The cosmic scales have been tipped to balance."

"Tipped to… what the hell does that mean?" Fitz says through his tears, still looking down at the pile of ash that replaced Jemma. Or that Jemma became. He doesn't want to think about it. 

Enoch doesn't answer. He looks up at him and then over to Daisy. Daisy is now sitting on the floor, curled up into a ball. Tears are streaming down her face as she shakes from what she's seen. 

"That attack on New York," Daisy says, looking up at Fitz. "maybe it had something to do with that."

"What attack? I've been stuck up here for months!" Fitz responds, confused. 

"Right. Sorry. Um I didn't see much about it… It was all over the news though. This huge spaceship came out of the sky and descended on New York. We don't know what they wanted but they left, leaving behind destruction. Iron Man went missing. If I was there, I could have stopped it." Daisy says, blaming herself. "But with you and Coulson gone I-"

"What do you mean with me and Coulson gone?" Fitz interrupts in a panic. "What happened to us."

Daisy sits there in silence, trying to think of what to say. "We didn't want you to find out like this." Daisy whispers. 

"Find out wha-"

"You died, Fitz." Daisy exclaims. Fitz's mouth drops open a little bit. It's not possible, he thinks. Just a couple of minutes ago, he had believed that time was fixed and that the team couldn't stop what was going to happen to Earth. Now, he learns that there were two of him out there at once. Did he… I ... help break the loop? He wonders how he died but he is too afraid to ask. 

"And Coulson… he got really sick…" Daisy continues. 

"No. That's too much." Fitz cries and puts his head in his hands. He was so happy to see Jemma. And now everything's gone wrong. I always told her we were cursed, Fitz thinks to himself. 

Fitz hears the rustling of Daisy's clothes as she gets up off the ground and walks over to him. She crouches down next to him and puts her warm arm around him. He leans into her embrace as he sobs, thinking about Jemma and now Coulson. 

"We have to go Fitz. The team might need our help." Daisy says to him calmly. 

"I can't just leave her like this!" Fitz tells through his sobs. "What if… what if she comes back?!"

"Enoch? Can you put all of this… all of her into the cryofreeze pod?" Daisy asks. "We'll take her back with us." she tells Fitz. 

Daisy helps Fitz up off the ground and leads him to the Quinjet. She leads him up the ladder and tells him he should go lie down. Fitz insists against it and climbs into the cockpit, sitting down. Daisy climbs into the pilot seat and, after Enoch loads Jemma in… or what's left of her anyways, they take off headed back to Earth. Daisy's stomach feels like it's upside down as she prays whatever happened with Jemma hadn't happened with anyone else.


	3. The Debrief

Daisy, Fitz and Enoch begin their descent on Earth. No one has spoken much the whole flight. Staring out the window, Fitz thinks about how small the world looks from up here. Fitz feels small too. He hasn't slept. He feels empty, like his other half is missing. In his hand, he fingers Jemma's wedding ring. Daisy filled him in on everything that's happened. Well almost everything. He and Jemma got married. After temporarily becoming Ghost Rider, Coulson became sick and went to Tahiti to live his last days with May. Talbot was the Destroyer of Worlds, not Daisy. However, she chooses to leave out that Fitz experienced a mental split. While he thought The Doctor came back to haunt him, he had actually sort of infected his brain, influencing him to cut Daisy open and remove the inhibitor that dampened her powers. She didn't blame him for that anymore. That Fitz was dead and helped save the world. 

Daisy looks at the Lighthouse glow in the night as they descend. The big hangar doors open up from underneath the water to let them in. When they got closer to the landing pad, Daisy notices that not as many people were surrounding them to welcome them home as usual. It seemed like almost half of their troops were gone. Daisy carefully lands the Quinjet and turns it off. Daisy exits the Quinjet with Enoch. Fitz comes out shortly after, wheeling what remained of Jemma beside him. 

Daisy is greeted by May with a warm, tight hug. 

"Thank God you made it home." May says.

Daisy opens her mouth to tell May that not everyone made it home but her throat closes as she tries to keep herself from crying. May looks past Daisy and sees Fitz, who is avoiding her eye. She lets go of Daisy and starts running towards Fitz, who had died in front of her just days earlier. Before she can get to him, she stops dead in her tracks. She looks around but she can't find Jemma. May turns around and looks back at Daisy, who shakes her head and looks to the stone floor of the Lighthouse. 

May walks slowly towards Fitz. When she gets close to him, Fitz raises his eyes from the ground and meets her eyes. Tears are forming in his eyes. May hugs him and she feels his tears hit her shirt. She looks to the left at the Cryo-Freeze chamber. Inside, she sees what she assumes to be Jemma’s remains. She’s seen too much of this dust recently. 

“You too look like you haven’t slept in days. Go get some rest. I’ll debrief you two in the morning.” May tell Daisy and Fitz.

“Absolutely not, May. We need to know what happened right now.” Daisy says. “Where is everyone?”

“Right now? You’re sure? It’s a lot to take in.” May responds. Daisy and Fitz both nod instantly. “Follow me.”

May leads them through the bunker doors of the Lighthouse into the main command room. Once again, Daisy and Fitz notice how much less people seem to be gathered. May leans over the holotable with her head drooped for a second and then turns around to face Fitz and Daisy.

“We’re trying to come in contact with the Avengers… or what's left of them anyways. We don’t have all the information but the attack in New York a couple of days ago? It was orchestrated by an alien known as Thanos. This wasn’t the first time he’s attacked either. He was the one who sent Loki and the Chitauri army through the hole in the sky a couple years back. From what we know, he was after six cosmic items: Infinity Stones.”

“Infinity Stones? I thought those were a myth?” Fitz interrupts.

“Not anymore.” May continues. “Just one of the stones would have made him the most powerful creature in the whole universe. He got his hands on all six of them. Several of the Avengers attempted to stop him in Wakanda. They failed. Wakandan intel tells us that after gathering the last stone, Thanos snapped his fingers…”

“He snapped his fingers?” Daisy questions, bewildered. “And then?”

“I was getting to that. Half of all living creatures were wiped from the universe.” May says. “We lost.”

Fitz remembers what Enoch said about the cosmic scales being tipped to balance. He thinks back to what happened to Jemma. The thought of her turning to dust in his hands made him shiver. 

“Who did we lose?” Daisy asks in a worried voice. 

May hesitates, turns around towards the holotable, and lets out a loud sigh. She holds out her hands flat and makes an upwards motion with them.

Several familiar faces float above the table. The names are displayed below:

Phil Coulson. Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez. Jemma Simmons. Lance Hunter. Robbie Reyes. Mike Peterson. Dozens of agents. Several Avengers. All erased with a snap of the fingers.


	4. Going Upstate

It’s been two and a half weeks since Thanos wiped out half of the universe. After getting in contact with Captain America, Daisy, May, Mack, Deke and Fitz have all decided to relocate to Upstate New York. The silence in the Lighthouse was driving them insane. They tried to call Bobbi so they could all be together, but losing Hunter was too much for her. She pushed herself away from the team and won’t answer their calls. 

When they arrived, they were stunned to see Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff standing at the front gate, ready to meet them. If it wasn’t for their current situation, Fitz would have been ecstatic to meet the Avengers, but instead he can only think of how Jemma would have loved to meet her heroes. She would grill Steve about Peggy Carter constantly. He pushes the painful thought away quickly. Daisy tried her best to hide her excitement for Fitz’s sake. These were the Avengers she was about to meet! She always wanted to join their ranks, she just wished this wasn’t how it happened. 

The five of them exit the SUV and walk up to meet Captain America and Black Widow, an idea that still baffled Mack and Daisy. Fitz, Deke, May stay behind as Mack and Daisy go up to meet their heroes. Even under the circumstances, Mack was still overjoyed to shake hands with Captain America.   
“Alphonso Mackenzie, but I usually just go by Mack. It’s a pleasure to meet you sir… Captain…” Mack says, stumbling over his words.

“Please. Call me Steve.” Steve responds.

“Yes sir… I mean… Steve..” Mack says, embarrassed.

“Hi! I’m Daisy Johnson… or Quake… you can call me whatever you want.” Daisy says, introducing herself to Natasha.

“I’ve heard all about you, Daisy,” Natasha tells her with a smile. “I’ve also heard some people write some interesting things about us two!”

Daisy immediately blushes, knowing exactly what she’s referring to. Natasha looks past Daisy at Fitz, Deke, and May. “They lost a lot, huh?” Natasha asks.

“We all did.” Daisy says. Natasha nods her head in understanding. “But they took it especially hard. Fitz lost his wife, Jemma… well not technically his wife… I’ll explain it later… She dusted away in his arms. And the one in the middle,” Daisy says, pointing out Deke, “he’s dealing with the losses too. He’s the grandson of Fitz and Jemma.” Natasha raises an eyebrow. “It’s a long story.” Daisy explains. “And he just doesn’t really know who you guys are. He's from a future that no longer exists"

“And May… she's been through Hell. She lost the love of her life, Coulson...”

“Wait, sorry.” Natasha says, interrupting. “Coulson? As in Phil Coulson?” Daisy nods her head yes. The mention of Coulson’s name gets the attention of Steve. “He’s… was alive?”

“Yeah… another long story.”

Natasha and Steve exchange looks. 

“Dammit Fury…” Natasha curses under her breath.

"Well, should we head inside then? It's getting pretty dark." Steve asks. 

They all agree and head inside the Compound


	5. The Compound

When they walk through the front doors, even Fitz is in awe of the complexity and extravagance of the Avengers Compound.

"This really beats the Lighthouse huh guys?" Daisy asks.

"Would've been nice to have been here when the world ended." Mack mutters under his breath.

Everyone introduces themselves to the rest of the remaining Avengers. Daisy notices that something feels off about Thor, but she figured it's too soon to ask anybody why. Fitz can't help but to stare at Rocket. 

"If you squint hard enough, he looks like a little monkey." Fitz whispers in Daisy's ear. 

"Hey I heard that!" Rocket yells. "Why don't you play your bagpipes for us you Scottish asshole." 

"Language, Rocket." Steve scolds. Rocket gives Steve and Fitz dirty looks while Natasha tries to hold back a laugh. "Natasha was about to make burgers and milkshakes if you guys were hungry." 

Everyone but Fitz and May say that they are hungry. 

"I could help you if you want, Natasha." Daisy says. 

"I would love it if you would help!" Natasha responds and the two of them head to the kitchen. 

"So. Tell me more about this whole 'Deke' situation." Natasha says while working on the milkshakes. 

"Let me think..." Daisy ponders where to begin. "Okay. So you know that big thing in Chicago a couple of weeks ago right?"

"Yeah that's where Fury and Maria Hill were before… before they…" Natasha says, pained by the thought.

"Sorry.." Daisy says.

"Thanks… Keep going." Natasha tells her.

"Well that was supposed to be the end of the world." Daisy says. Natasha turns arounds and gives Daisy a look of disbelief. "Believe me, we had a hard time believing it too. Anyways Deke is from the future where the world was cracked in two after what went down in Chicago."

"And Fitz… well Fitz died in Chicago. Not the one that's with us now though. The Fitz that died came back with us from the future and married Jemma. The one with us now we picked up before he could get to the future. It's really confusing, sorry."

"Yeah that's… a lot to take in." Natasha says. "Dammit. I think this damn blender just broke."

"Here let me see what I can do." Daisy says, making her way over to Natasha.

"I don't think you'll be able to fix it. Looks like it's finally met it's end."

"I wasn't talking about the blender." Daisy says with a smile. She then grabs the half mixed milkshake and, holding it from the bottom, begins to quake it softly. It works and the milkshake completely mixes together. 

"That's incredible!" Natasha exclaims "You'll have to show me just what you can do sometime."

Daisy smiles and grabs the next unmixed milkshake. As soon as she begins to quake it, the entire compound begins to shake. Natasha gives her a concerned look. 

"This isn't me." Daisy explains. "I haven't lost control in years." 

"Then that means it's her." Natasha says as she grabs her coat and runs out of the room. 

"Her? Who are you talking about?" Daisy tells after Natasha as she turns off the burner and runs after her.


	6. The Return

Daisy runs through the front door of the Compound to get outside. All of the other Avengers and SHIELD agents have already gathered outside and are looking up at the sky. Daisy scans the night sky to see what they are looking at. Suddenly she sees it: a large spaceship descending on the Compound. Underneath it is a large glowing light, a beacon in the sky. At first, she thinks it's some sort of futuristic battery but as it gets closer, she realizes it's not an it, but rather a she. A woman she's never seen before guides the ship to the ground carefully until it lands with a soft thud. 

The cargo door of the ship opens and Steve runs up to greet whoever's inside. Daisy can't get a good look because of how far away she is, so she slowly approaches the ship. 

"It's him." May tells Daisy as she passes. "It's Tony Stark."

Daisy is shocked by this revelation. Tony had gone missing after the attack on New York and has been missing since. It's been weeks. Most of the world thought him to be dead, including her. 

"I couldn't stop him." Daisy overhears Tony say. 

"Neither could we." Steve responds.

Daisy guiltily thinks about how instead of joining the Avengers to help fight Thanos, she was in space, looking for Fitz. 'I could have stopped him.' She thinks. 

"I lost the kid." Tony says.

"Tony…. we lost." Steve says somberly. 

Daisy wonders who the kid Tony referred to was. The images of everyone she's lost in the past 5 years flash in her mind. 

Trip. Both her parents. Lincoln. Fitz. Coulson. Elena. Robbie. Hunter. Mike. Jemma. 

Tony looks around at the group. His eyes stop on Daisy, Mack, Deke, Fitz and May for a moment before continuing. Before they can introduce themselves, Pepper runs up to Tony and they have a tearful reunion. Daisy walks back into the Compound to clear her head. 

As she enters the Compound, she once again sees the mysterious lady that carried the heavy ship with her bare hands. 

"What you did out there was pretty marvelous. That ship must have weighed tons." Daisy says in awe.

"Yeah. That's what shooting an engine powered by an Infinity Stone will do to ya." Carol responds.

"An Infinity Stone? Like… Thanos?" Carol nods her head. "Wow. I'm Daisy by the way. Daisy Johnson."

"Hi, Daisy. I'm Carol Danvers." Carol replies. They shake hands. "You've got a pretty strong grip!" Carol says. 

"Yeah I've got powers too. Not from an Infinity Stone though. However, I could level a city with an earthquake."

Carol raises her eyebrows, impressed. Before they can talk more, the doors of the Compound swing open. Tony is escorted in with the help of Steve and the rest follow, including another woman Daisy hasn't seen before. She has blue skin and seems to be half robotic. They bring Tony into the hospital wing and hook him up to an IV. 

Fitz is extremely impressed by Nebula's appearance. He starts asking her questions about her design, to which she gives one word responses. Fitz thinks it best to stop pestering her. However, he can't seem to keep his eyes off her. He studies her different parts from a distance. It reminds him of the Deathlok technology, which sparks an idea in the back of his head. 

Soon after Tony falls asleep, Daisy and Natasha finish cooking the meal and offer it to the rest of the Avengers and agents. Nebula, Fitz and May refusing. After they finish eating, they all head off to bed.


	7. The Fight

The next morning, May calls everyone into the meeting room to debrief. She stands around a holo-display, which rotates through the victims of the Snap.

Fitz keeps his eyes down, avoiding the possibility of seeing Jemma's face being displayed. May sees Coulson's face pop up and winces. Natasha, Steve and Tony notice it too, still shocked he was alive this whole time. 

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." May explains. "Governments all over the world are slowly crumbling, including what's left of SHIELD. "

"The parts that still work are trying to put together a census." Natasha continues. "It looks like Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to do."

Steve turns off the holo-display, trying to keep everyone's thoughts off of those they lost. 

"Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures." Natasha states, trying to stay strong. She can cry about it later. 

"So where is he now?" Daisy asks. 

"We don't know. He just…. opened a portal and walked through." Steve responds.

"What's wrong with him?" Tony asks, gesturing to Thor, who's sitting on the patio in a state of anger and depression. 

"He thinks he failed." Rocket answers, gaining Tony's attention, who hadn't seen him until this moment. "Which, of course, he did. Sent us across the universe for that godkiller axe and didn't kill the freakin' god!!" 

"You know at this exact moment, I thought you were a Build-a-Bear." Tony remarks.

Fitz makes a small wheezing noise, trying to hold back his laughter while elbowing Daisy. 

"Tony I need you to focus." Steve says.

"And I needed you, as in past tense. That trumps what you need. It’s too late, buddy.” Tony says. “You know what I need?" 

Tony slams his hand on the table, making Deke jump. "I need to shave." Tony says, getting up from the table. "And I remember telling all of you, alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not- that's what we needed!" Tony says bitterly.

"Your 'suit of armor' almost killed thousands of people. Could have killed everyone." Fitz shouts angrily, knowing that he could have helped perfect Ultron. 

Tony gives Fitz a death stare. "Fitz, stay out of it. This isn't your fight." Daisy says in a low voice.

Tony starts to approach Steve and gets in his face. "I said, 'we'd lose'. You said, 'We'll do that together too.' Well guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there." Steve stares back at him, not saying anything. 

"Tony… you've made your point." Rhodey says, trying to pull him back.

"And you two," Tony says, pointing at Carol and Daisy, who are standing right next to each other, "you're great. We need you. You're new blood." Tony's whole body sways as he finishes his sentence. 

"Tony. I think you need to sit down." Natasha says, worried for her friend. 

"I'm fine!" Tony yells. Seconds later he passes out and falls to the ground.


	8. The Plan

A couple of minutes later, Rhodey comes out of the medical bay. 

"Bruce gave him a sedative." Rhodey says. "Should keep him out for the rest of the day."

"Take care of him." Carol says, making her way to the exit of the Compound. "When I come back, I’ll bring a bottle of Xorrian elixir." 

"Xorrian elixir?" Deke asks. "That stuff'll get you seein' shit if you use it right." Carol and Fitz shoot him a strange look. "Not that I know that from...personal experience or anything." he quickly says. 

"Where are you headed to, Carol?" Daisy asks, running after her. "Maybe I could come with?"

"You ever flown in space?" Carol responds.

"In a...spaceship? Is that what you mean?" Daisy asks. Carol shakes her head no. Steve just catches up and interrupts them before their conversation can go further. 

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"To kill Thanos." Carol responds. 

"Carol, we realize 'up there’s' more your territory, but this is our fight, too. We're a team." Steve says. 

"Do you even know where he is?" Rhodey asks. 

"I know people who might-" Carol starts to say. 

"Don't bother." Nebula interrupts. "I can tell you where Thanos is." She then turns and walks away. They all follow her into the living area. 

Everyone gathers around Nebula. She is standing next to a deactivated Holo-Map. She is studying her robotic hand.

“Thanos spent a long time trying to…. perfect me.” Nebula says. Fitz studies Nebula again from head to toe. He’s finally starting to understand how she became this way. Through torture. He feels sorry for her. Nebula continues, “When he worked, he talked about his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I’d ask, where would we go once his plan was complete? His answer was always the same: ‘To the Garden.’”

“That's sweet. Thanos has a retirement plan.” Rhodey states sarcastically.

“Where is this garden?” May asks.

Fitz walks over to the Holo-Map and activates it. He pulls up a globe representing Earth.

“When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions.” Fitz explains. He makes a gesture at the globe with his fingers. Suddenly, a colorful array of light covers the globe, stemming from Africa. “No one’s seen anything like it before. Not even us.” He says, looking at Daisy and May.

“That is…” Fitz says, flipping through several planets in the universe. “Until two days ago. It happened again on this planet.” He makes a zooming motion with his finger, making the planet larger.

“So you’re saying Thanos is there. And he used the stones again?” Bruce asks. Fitz nods his head ‘yes’.

“So let’s go. We take the stones back. We snap our own fingers, bring everyone back.” Daisy says, looking up from the Holo-Map.

“Just like that?” Bruce asks.

“Yeah. Just like that.” Carol says, looking into Bruce and then Daisy’s eyes.

Nobody speaks for a minute. They all wonder if it's possible. To bring everyone back. Fitz thinks of seeing Jemma again. May thinks of seeing Coulson again, even if it's just for a little bit longer. Daisy thinks of seeing both of them again. Maybe with the stones, she could bring Trip and Lincoln back too, she wonders. 

“Even if it’s the smallest chance we can undo this, we owe it to everyone who’s not in this room to try.” Natasha says.

“If we do this… why would it end any differently than it did before?” Bruce asks.

“Because before you didn’t have us.” Daisy says to Bruce, gesturing towards herself, her fellow agents, and Carol.

“Hey, new girl.” Rhodey starts. “All of us in here are all about that superhero life. Where’ve you been all this time?”

“If it wasn’t for my team,” Mack says, defending Daisy, “We’d all be dead. Or stuck in a simulation. Or controlled by an ancient Inhuman.” 

“He’s got a point Rhodey.” Natasha says. Rhodey mumbles in agreement.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Steve says. “Let’s go get that son of a bitch.”


	9. The Garden

Everyone settles down onto their seats on the Benatar. Deke stayed behind with Bruce, Tony and Pepper. Daisy tried to convince Fitz to stay behind but he refused. He needed to see the monster that killed Jemma. He wanted to see the life leave his eyes. 

"Alright," Rocket says, spinning around in his chair while flicking several levers as they flew higher and higher, the Earth getting tiny behind them. "Who here hasn't been to space?"

Natasha, Steve, and Rhodey raise their hands. 

"I wish I hadn't." Mack says under his breath. 

"Oh you guys are going to hate this." Rocket says, laughing. "DON'T throw up on my ship or I'll kick you out into the literal void of space!"

"Approaching jump point in three… two…" Nebula states, pressing several buttons. 

Steve tightens his grip on the armrest next to him and closes his eyes. 

The Benatar jumps forward at an extremely high speed, throwing them through the jump point. May closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She'd be in space, but never through a jump point like this. Carol instinctively grabs Daisy's arm and holds on tight. Daisy looks over at her and smiles. She has her eyes glued shut and tightens her grip on Daisy's arm. Daisy lets out a small chuckle. 

Carol opens her eyes slowly and looks at Daisy and then down at her hand around Daisy's arm. She quickly removes her grip and places her arm on her armrest. 

"Sorry." Carol says, embarrassed. "I'm used to flying solo. Not in a big spaceship."

"You don't have to apologise, I get it!" Daisy says with a laugh. "My first time in a spaceship was rough too."

"Exiting jump point in three...two…" Nebula says. 

"I better head out there." Carol says with a smile. She gets up from her seat and heads toward the back. 

A couple of seconds later, Daisy sees Carol flying in front of the ship. She then heads down to the orange, ominous planet, likely for recon. Daisy looks over at Fitz. His leg is bouncing up and down and he's biting his nails. 

"You okay?" Daisy asks, putting her hand on his shoulder. 

"Yeah I'm okay….just nerves I guess..." Fitz responds. Daisy notices he's twirling Jemma's wedding ring in his hand. 

"This is going to work, Fitz." Daisy says, trying to reassure him. Fitz just nods his head with a forced smile, avoiding Daisy's eyes. 

"Mack you good?" Daisy asks Mack. He's extremely pale and looks like he's about to vomit all over. He holds up his index finger, signaling for Daisy to stop talking. 

Daisy notices Carol flying back up to the ship. 

"No satellites, no ships, no armies. No ground defenses of any kind." Carol reports over the coms. "It's just him."

"And that's enough." Nebula says ominously. Rocket grabs onto the controls and flies them towards the planet. He lands silently a couple of yards away from a tiny shack in the middle of a field. 

"We need to come up with a plan." Steve says.   
"Daisy, you and Carol will go in first. Carol through the roof and Daisy through the front door. Mack, you go in right after Daisy and Carol. You need to cut his arm off with your… What do you call that?" He asks, pointing at Mack's weapon. 

"Shotgun Axe." Mack replies with a smirk. 

"Right… you cut his arm off with your… Shotgun Axe. Only after he is restrained will Fitz, Nat, Rocket, May and I enter. Thor, you'll be the one to snap your fingers. Bring everybody back. Everyone got it?" 

They nod their heads. 

"Good. Let's move."

They all exit the Benatar onto Thano's field. They all crouch while they walk through the tall alien plants to try and hide themselves. Daisy and Carol run ahead to get in position. Carol flies above the shack, waiting for Daisy's signal. Daisy looks at Carol, nods, and then quakes the door, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. 

Daisy runs through the door and sees Thanos sitting on the floor eating a bowl of soup. He flips around and raises his left hand. Carol crashes through the roof. She shoots a ball of plasma at him, knocking him back. She then climbs behind him and puts him in a chokehold, while Daisy quakes his left hand, holding the gauntlet in place. 

"Mack!" Daisy yells through the doorway. "You're up!"

Mack runs through the doorway with his Shotgun Axe. He runs up to Thanos and with a hard swing, cuts his hand clean off, leaving the gauntlet on the floor. 

Thor enters the room, ready to take the stones and snap his fingers. He approaches the gauntlet and turns it over. 

"No…." he says

"Thor, what's wrong?" Steve asks walking through the door. 

"The stones... they're….gone." Thor says in disbelief. 

"Where are they?" Daisy screams. She quakes Thanos so hard that he flies against the wall, almost through it. 

"Answer the question!" Carol yells.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Daisy shouts, her hand raised to quake him again. 

"You killed Jemma!" Fitz screams at the top of his lungs, moving towards Thanos. Daisy puts her arm out to stop him. 

"You should be grateful." Thanos says. This comment makes Daisy feel sick to her stomach. Fitz runs his hand through his hair, trying to take deep breaths to stop himself from crying. 

"Where are the stones?" Natasha asks, swallowing the lump in her throat. 

"Gone. Reduced to atoms." Thanos says. 

"You used them two days ago!" Fitz yells, his voice quivering. Jemma wasn't come back. 

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me." Thanos says. Daisy notices that the left half of Thanos body, especially near his hand, seems to be burnt. This must have been a result of destroying the stones, she thinks. 

"He's lying. They've gotta be here somewhere." Rhodey states, looking around the room. 

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula states, looking down at Thanos. 

"Ah, thank you daughter. Perhaps I treated you to harsh-" Thanos begins to say. 

Suddenly Fitz rips Mack's Shotgun Axe out of his hands and makes a charge towards Thanos. Before Daisy can stop him, Fitz cuts his head clean off. Fitz drops the Shotgun Axe and falls to the floor, his head in his hands. 

'The work is done. It always will be.' The words ring through Fitz's head. It's over. Jemma's gone. He isn't going to get her back.


	10. The Letter

When they get back to the Avengers Compound, Daisy heads immediately to her room. After holding it in the entire trip, she begins to sob. So many of her friends are gone. And they weren't coming back. She was never going to see Jemma again. And Coulson. She thought that maybe they'd be able to bring him back. Maybe if she had used the stones, she could have gotten rid of his sickness. Daisy reaches into her bag and grabs her unopened letter from Coulson. Now's the time to open it. He's gone for good. She takes a deep breath before opening the envelope carefully. She pulls out the letter, unfolds it and begins to read it. 

Daisy,  
Words can't begin to express how proud I am of you. I am so proud of the strong, beautiful woman I've watched you grow up to be. You are the strongest person I know, and I don't just mean with your powers. You've gone through hell so many times and have come back better every single time. I've only known you a couple of years, but it feels like a lifetime. I remember that first day we tracked you down in your van in that alley. You were so young, so naive. What did Ward call you? A sweaty cosplay girl? And now look at you. You're a hero. You've saved the world countless times. From Hydra, from Inhumans, from robots, and from aliens. You've made dozens of tough calls. You grew to be the leader and agent I knew you could be. I saw those traits in you the day we picked you up in your van. That's why, even when you were a pain in my ass, I still pushed through and didn't give up on you.   
My years with you have been some of the best of my life. Those years on the Bus were amazing, even though it brought on so much trauma. You know, May and I used to refer to you guys as our Bus Kids. Silly, I know, it was just a fun thing between us two.  
When Quinn shot you and you almost died, that was the scariest moment of my entire life.   
After seeing you lie there, cold and bloody, I knew I would do anything to keep you safe from death. Even if it meant giving up my life. And that's why I did what I did. I slipped the Centipede serum into your gauntlet for you. To save you. Please, don't feel guilty. I'd rather die than lose you, Daisy.   
To me, you were always like the daughter I never had. The daughter I always wanted. And I know how much you looked up to me as the father figure you never had. With that said, I was wondering if you'd like to make it official. Even if it's a little late.   
-AC

Daisy picks up the letter, her hands trembling and tears falling down her face. She picks up the paper underneath the letter and reads it.

'Petition of Adoption of an Adult'.

Daisy hugs the letter and lays down onto her bed, sobbing.


	11. Five Years Later

Daisy sits behind a desk surrounded by four holo-screens displaying May, Carol, Rocket, and Nebula. Nebula has an orange faceplate and Rocket's fur is starting to grey. Daisy has her feet up on the desk.

"We boarded that 'highly suspect warship' Danvers pinged." Rocket says.

"Find anything?" Daisy asks.

"It was an infectious garbage scow." Nebula responds. 

"So thanks for the hot tip." Rocket says sarcastically, obviously annoyed. 

"You guys were closer." Carol says to him, shrugging her shoulders. 

"Yeah well now we smell like garbage!" Rocket says, annoyed.

Carol looks at Daisy and rolls her eyes.

"So. Carol, will we be seeing you here next month?" Daisy asks.

"Not likely." Carol says, looking down. 

"Why? Getting another haircut?" Rocket says with laughter.

"Listen, fur-face, I’m covering a lot of territory up here. The things that have been happening on Earth have been happening everywhere else. On thousands of planets. You might not see me for a long time." Carol states while looking at Daisy. 

Rocket apologizes. 

"All right. Everybody keep your eyes open. This channel’s always active. Anything goes  
sideways, anyone makes trouble where they shouldn’t, it comes through me." Daisy says.

Everyone says they understand and sign off. Everyone except for May. 

"What's wrong?" Daisy asks. "Where are you?"

"Mexico. With Nat. I've got some news." May responds.

Daisy looks down and nods her head. She has a feeling she knows what's coming.

"We got a call from the Federalés. They found a room full of bodies outside Juarez. Cartel  
guys. Guns still in their pants." May reports.

"Maybe it's a rival gang…" Daisy says, hoping it's not who she thinks it is. 

"It's not. Nat's there now. Same MO as  
Marseille. And Kyiv." May pauses. "It's him Daisy… it's Fitz."

Daisy remembers the day Fitz left. It's been over a year since she last saw him. She knew he was dealing with something, they all were, but she didn't want to pry. She blames herself. Maybe if she told him everything that happened with The Doctor… maybe he wouldn't have snapped the way that he did. 

"Will you find out where he's going next?" Daisy asks with tears in her eyes. "Please?"

May gives Daisy a smile and nods her head. 

"Of course. I'll let you know." May says before shutting off her broadcast.

As soon as May leaves, the tears start streaming down Daisy's face. She puts her head in her hands. 

"I'd offer to cook you dinner, but you seem pretty miserable already."

Daisy looks up, wiping her tears away. Mack is standing in the doorway, looking at her.

"Clearly, I'm totally fine." Daisy responds, holding up her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She lowers it back down and takes a bite out of it. Mack scoffs. 

"You leave the Compound today?" Mack asks, still concerned for his friend. 

"Nothing out there I particularly need to see." Daisy says.

"Really? Well I spotted a pod of whales coming over the river." Mack tells her.

"In the Hudson?" Daisy asks, surprised.

"Yep." Mack responds, nodding his head. "Less boats, clearer water."

"I swear Mack," Daisy begins. "If you tell me to look on the bright side…." Mack closes his mouth. That's exactly what he was going to do. 

"Sorry," Mack says. "Force of habit." He walks towards Daisy and throw his keys on the desk and lays his jacket on the back of a chair. He takes a seat across from Daisy.

There's a long silence. Finally, Mack starts talking. 

"At our support groups," he says, "Bobbi and I keep telling everyone to move on. Grow. Some of them actually do. But not us." He says with sorrow in his voice. He thinks of Yo-Yo, who dusted away right in front of him.

"If I move on, then who does all of this?" Daisy says, gesturing towards the holo-screens. 

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done." Mack says, looking up at Daisy. 

There's another long silence. 

"I used to have nothing." Daisy says, tears forming in her eyes. "I was some hacker girl with no mom or dad just living in her van. Then I got all this. I became an agent. I became a hero. I got the family I never had." Her throat starts to close up and she chokes on her tears. "And I was better because of it. And even though they're gone…. I'm still trying to be better." 

"I think we both need to get a life, Tremors." Mack says with a laugh.

"You first." Daisy responds, smiling back at him.

Suddenly, a red light flashes on the holo-table in front of her. She swipes up on the notification and a holo-screen displaying a video of the front gate floats above the table. Daisy stands up, pressing a button to unmute the audio.

"-ott Lang? We met a few years ago. At the airport?" the man on the screen says to the camera. 

"Steve?!" Daisy yells across the Compound. A couple of seconds later, Steve comes running into the room. "Is that-" Daisy starts to say. 

"Scott Lang? I think so. Is this an old message?" Steve says, confused. 

Daisy walks to the other side of the holo-table and studies it for a few seconds. She freezes.

"No." She says. "It's the front gate." She looks up at Steve, who runs outside to let Scott in.

"I thought Scott Lang was killed in the Snap?" Mack asks Daisy. 

"He was." She says. "His name was in the news and carved into the memorial in San Francisco. Maybe… maybe someone found a way to bring everybody back."

"Come on now, Daisy." Mack says shaking his head. "You know I'm a man of faith, but don't you think five years is a little long for someone to work this out? Hell, Tony Stark and Bruce couldn't even do it."

"You're right… I just thought-" Daisy is cut off by Steve, who enters the Compound, escorting Scott. Scott immediately starts pacing the room, trying to figure out where to begin. 

They give him a few minutes, but he just continues to pace, mumbling to himself.

"Scott." Steve says. 

Scott stops pacing after a few more seconds and looks up at the three of them.

"Have any of you ever studied quantum physics?" Scott asks.

Mack and Daisy exchange looks. Both of them are baffled.

"No, Scott, we haven't." Steve says.

"Well, five years ago," Scott begins, "just before this Thanos guy...I went into a place called the Quantum Realm. It’s like its own microscopic universe. You can only get there if you’re incredibly small. Hope, she’s my...she was my… she was supposed to pull me out. But then Thanos happened. And I was stuck in there."

"I'm sorry, Scott. That must have been a long five years." Mack says, offering his condolences. 

"Okay, but that’s the thing. It wasn’t. For me, it was only five hours. The rules in the Quantum Realm aren’t like out here. They’re completely unpredictable." Scott explains. "Time works differently in there."

"Problem is," Scott continues, "right now there’s no way to navigate it. But... what if we could figure out a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time...and come out in another. Like, before Thanos-" 

"Wait...wait. Scott. Are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asks.

"I don't think he's too far off, Steve." Daisy interrupts. "I mean, Mack and I have both been to the future and back. I don't see how it's not possible."

"Wait you've… that's so cool!" Scott says with excitement. "How did you-"

"We used a monolith, but unfortunately it's been destroyed." Mack says. "But this Quantum Realm idea could work."

"So," Scott says. "Who do we talk to about this?"

Daisy looks at Mack. "Fitz." They say at the same time. "I'll go call May. See if she's found out where he's going next." Daisy says before leaving the room.


	12. Deathlok

Over the phone, May tells Daisy where to find Fitz. She tells him that he's in Germany. Daisy's never been to Germany, but she knows that it's where Hydra really kicked off. Maybe that's what Fitz is there for. Kill all the remaining heads.

Daisy boards the Quinjet, alone. She takes off, setting course to Germany. She turns on autopilot and heads to her bunk. She lays down on the bed, trying to sleep, but her thoughts are driving her crazy. Her thoughts of what happened with Fitz. His outbreak came out of nowhere. He ran away from the Compound, blowing a hole through the wall on the way. Daisy drifts off to sleep, still thinking of Fitz. 

Daisy wakes up to the beeping of the Quinjet. The orange flickering lights tell her she's getting close. She scans the ground of the area surrounding her. She sees a large structure, engulfed in flames. That must be where Fitz attacked. 

Daisy lands the Quinjet in the empty field near the burning structure. She opens the ramp and runs out, into the cold of the night. 

She considers yelling for Fitz, but she doesn't know how many enemy combatants there are. She runs towards the potentially Hydra compound. As she gets nearer, she hears gunshots and screaming coming from inside. As she reaches the large stone door of the compound, the gunshots and screams stop. All Daisy can hear is the crackling of the fire that covers the building. Suddenly, the wall next to Daisy explodes as someone is launched through it. Then, Daisy sees him.

Fitz walks towards the man, who's trying to crawl away. He reaches him, leans down, and grabs the man by his arm. Fitz lifts him up off the ground so easily it seems like the man weighs the same as a feather.

You," Fitz starts saying to the scared man. "are the last surviving head of Hydra. You will BE the last head of Hydra." He says in a threatening tone. 

"P-p-please!" The man stammers. "I-I can give you whatever you want!"

"What I want," Fitz says, thinking of Jemma, "you can't give me." 

Suddenly, Fitz yanks at the man's arm. It comes clean off. The man screams as he falls to the ground, his blood spraying all over. Fitz puts his boot on the man's chest. Slowly, he presses down. Daisy can hear the man's ribs crack from where she is standing. The man stops screaming.

"Fitz!" Daisy yells. Fitz flicks his head around, staring right at Daisy. "Stop this!" she says, running towards Fitz.

"I'm done. It's done. They're all dead." Fitz says, showing no remorse. 

"But why?" Daisy asks. "Killing all of this people won't… didn't bring Jemma back."

Fitz looks down at the ground, he's upset that Daisy is disappointed in him, but he still thinks he did the right thing. These people didn't deserve to live in a world where Jemma didn't get to.

"We found something. A chance, maybe-" Daisy starts to say. 

"Don't do that…. don't give me hope." Fitz says, looking into Daisy's eyes.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner." She says, putting his left hand into her own. It is freezing cold. "Is there a way for you to reverse this?" Daisy asks.

Fitz looks down at his left hand and his right leg. They have been upgraded with metal and new abilities. Fitz studies his arm, reading the label: Deathlok.

"Not right now." Fitz says. "With Jemma's help, then maybe."

"Then let's go find the way to get her back. To get everybody back." Daisy says, squeezing his metallic hand.


	13. The Brains

Back at the Compound, Tony, Natasha, Steve, Daisy, May, Mack, Deke, Fitz, and Scott gather to discuss the idea of time travel.

“Before we begin,” Tony says. “I just want to thank you folks for inviting me here. It’s not every day one gets to contemplate biting it on an inter-dimensional timescape.”

“We get it Tony,” Natasha says, annoyed. “You’ve got some objections to the plan.”

“So you’re calling it a plan.” Tony responds. “To me, it sounds like an exotic suicide method. Not to mention, it’s impossible.”

“It’s not impossible. We’ve done it before.” Fitz says, gesturing towards his fellow agents.

“So you keep telling me.” Tony says, not quite believing Fitz. “But you’ve got no records. No files. You just keep mentioning an “ancient monolith” that “blew up”.” He says, making air quotations with his fingers.

“Tony, after what you’ve seen, is anything really impossible?” Steve says.

Tony doesn’t say anything to Steve. He just stares at him bitterly. He turns to Fitz and starts rambling.

“Quantum fluctuation kinda messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition, can we agree on that?” he says.

Daisy and Mack exchange looks, their mouths slightly ajar.

“Obviously not.” Tony continues. “In layman’s terms, it means you can cancel your dinner plans, because you’re not coming home.”

“I did. We did.” Scott says to Tony, while looking at Daisy and her team.

“Yeah. Which was a billion-to-one cosmic fluke.” Tony says.

“Billion-to-two.” Deke says from the back of the room.

“Oh sorry! Billion-to-two! Is that much better?” Tony asks. Deke looks away, embarrassed. “And now you want to pull a- What are you calling it?”

“A time heist?” Scott says, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh, of course, a time heist, why didn’t we think of this before?” Tony asks. “Right, because it’s a pipe dream.”

“Tony, the Stones exist in the past. We could get them and bring them here.” Steve says, trying to plead with Tony.

“We could snap our own fingers-” Natasha says.

“Bring everyone back.” Daisy finishes.

“Or screw it up worse than Thanos already did.” Tony warns them.

“Well, we’ve just got to follow the rules of time travel right?” Deke pipes in again. “No talking to our past selves. No betting on sporting events-”

“Is everyone from his time this idiotic or just him?” Tony asks the group. Daisy opens her mouth to speak.

“Please don’t answer that, guys.” Deke interrupts. Daisy mouths “just him” to Tony.

“You're talking about Back to the Future. A fictional movie from the 80's. It’s horseshit. Quantum physics doesn’t work that way.” Tony says.

“Look, Stark- Can I call you Tony?” Scott asks.

“No.” Tony says bluntly.

“I get that you’ve got a lot on the line, here.” Scott says to Tony. “You’ve got a wife. A daughter. But I lost someone very important - a lot of us did - and now we have a chance to save her, and everyone else, and you won’t even-?”

“That's right, Scott. I won’t. Even.” Tony says, interrupting Scott. “I wish you asked me here for anything else. I’m honestly happy to see you.” Tony says, gathering his coat to leave.

Daisy tries one last time. “Tony, I get it. And I’m happy for you. I am. But this is a second chance.”

“Yeah, well, I got my second chance.” Tony says. "Like you guys said, I’ve got a daughter. I can’t roll the dice on her.” Tony walks out the doors of the Compound.

“Well what now.” Daisy asks. Mack shrugs.

Fitz speaks up. “Scott. Do you still have that van? The Quantum Tunnel?” Scott nods his head ‘yes’. “If we get the right materials, maybe I could run some tests.” Fitz gets up immediately and heads to his lab.


	14. The Quantum Tunnel

Deke is standing in front of the open van doors, wearing Scott’s Ant-Man suit. He’s not entirely sure why he’s the one doing the testing, but everyone else is. Deke is a little worried that something might go wrong.

“You’re sure these modifications are safe, Bobo?” He asks.

“Don’t call me that.” Fitz says angrily, looking up at Deke. “Anyways, I reran my calculations three times-”

“I’m just making sure you won’t lose me in the 50’s, Gramps.” Deke interrupts.

“Call me anything related to ‘grandfather’ again and you won’t be coming back.” Fitz says, annoyed. “I graduated from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science and Technology three years early, have a Ph. D in Engineering, two Masters in Chemistry and Physics, I designed the D.W.A.R.F.s, Night-Night Gun, Daisy’s gauntlets, and countless other things. I think you’ll be fine.”

Daisy, May, Mack, and Scott walk in from outside.

“Breakers are set, emergency generator on stand-by.” Daisy tells Fitz.

Fitz nods while he continues making adjustments to the control panel. After a few seconds, Fitz stops pressing the buttons and looks up from the panel.

“Okay.” Fitz says. “I’m going to send you back one week, give you an hour to look around, then bring you back in ten seconds.”

“That’s not confusing at all!” Deke says sarcastically.

“Make sure to bring my suit back in one piece!” Scott yells over the sound of the Quantum Tunnel in the back of the van firing up.

Suddenly, Deke shrinks to nothing. Ten seconds pass. Daisy nervously bites her fingernails. ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ she thinks. With the press of a button, Fitz brings Deke back. 

“Bloody Hell…” Fitz says under his breath. Deke is now thirteen years old.

“Uh… guys?” Deke says in a high pitched voice. “Something doesn’t feel right!”

“Is that Deke?” May asks.

Fitz makes a groaning sound as he frantically presses several buttons on the control panel. As he taps one final button, Deke shrinks to nothing again. A few seconds later, Fitz flips a switch and Deke reappears. This time he is 93 years old.

“Oh, my back!” Deke exclaims.

“Fitz! Get it under control. What the hell is going on?” Mack asks.

“I’ve got it, I know exactly what’s going on. Pretty much.” Fitz says, not confident in his skills. He continues to type on the control panel and sends Deke back again. 

When Deke reappears, he is a two year old baby.

“Oh, my God.” Daisy says.

“It’s a baby.” Mack states.

“It’s Deke.” Fitz responds.

“As a baby!” Mack explaims.

“He’ll grow.” Fitz reassures.

“Get him back.” Daisy tells Fitz.

Fitz hits a button and Deke disappears one final time. He tells Daisy to, on his mark, kill the power.

“Now!” Fitz yells. Daisy flips the switch down, killing the power. Deke comes back, the proper age. He stumbles away from the van. May breathes a sigh of relief.

“Somebody peed my pants.” Deke says. “I don’t know if it was baby-me or old-me.” He pauses. “Or just me-me.”


	15. Mockingbird

Steve walks into the hangar, holding his shield and some kind of device you would wear on your wrist.

"Tony stopped by. Said you guys turned Deke into a baby?" Steve says, looking over at Deke, who gives him a thumbs up.

"How did he..." Fitz starts to ask.

Steve points up to the camera in the corner of the room. "He owns the Compound, remember?"

Fitz's face turns red with embarrassment as he turns away from the camera. 

"Anyways, he fixed it. Gave me this." Steve says, holding up the strange device. "Called it a 'time-space GPS'." 

"Can I take a look at that?" Fitz asks, holding out his hand. Steve agrees and places it in his hand. Fitz begins to study the craftsmanship of the device.

"Why didn't I think of this." Fitz mutters.

"Tony wants us to get the whole team together." Steve says, looking at Daisy, May and Mack. "Tony and I are going to get Bruce and Thor, you three are in charge of getting whoever you think we need to get the stones.

Daisy looks at Mack. "Do you think she'll-" Daisy begins.

"Only one way to find out." Mack says. "Let's go pay her a visit."

Mack and Daisy head to a Quinjet while May stays behind with Deke and Fitz. After a short flight, they land in Brooklyn. They lower the hangar door of the Quinjet and walk out onto the empty street. Abandoned cars and trash litter the road. They walk up to the only building with lights on. On the outside of the building, a poster is plastered on the wall. It reads, "Where do we go, now that they're gone?" The bottom of the support group poster shows that the meeting goes until 7pm. They've got a few minutes to wait. 

They head inside and wait in the deserted lobby. After a couple of minutes, people begin to start filing out of the meeting room. Daisy and Mack smile to them as they pass.

"Bye!" A recognizable voice shouts out the door. "See you guys next week!"

After everyone leaves, Daisy and Mack get up and walk through the doors to the meeting room. When they enter, Bobbi turns around and gives them a smile. She runs up to the both of them and gives them hugs.

"What are you guys doing here?" Bobbi asks, overjoyed. "I haven't seen you in a while Daisy!"

"We think we found a way, Bobbi." Daisy says. 

"What do you mean? A way for what?" Bobbi asks, confused. 

"A way to reverse what Thanos did." Daisy tells her. The smile instantly drops from Bobbi's face at the sound of his name. "We think we have a way to bring everyone back. To bring Hunter back."

Bobbi is silent for a few seconds. "I- I don't know what to say." She finally answers. "I gave up being an agent after everything happened. After Hunter…" She looks down at the ground.

"But you've still been training right?" Mack asks. "I've seen the bruises on your knuckles." 

"I mean, yeah…" Bobbi says. "But I don't know about all of this… how certain is this plan?"

"We haven't worked out all the kinks yet." Daisy says. "But we're close. We've got everyone working on it."

"Plus," Mack says. "I think Turbo would really like to see you again. He hasn't been the same since we lost Jemma."

Bobbi hasn't seen Fitz since the Snap. She feels bad for not checking in on him, but she had her own crap to deal with. Those first two years were rough on her. She took it out on everyone who got in her way.

"Ok." Bobbi says after a moment of thinking. "I'll go with you. But we've got to stop at my place first. I've got some equipment to pick up."

"Yes, ma'am." Mack says, smiling. The three of them walk out the door to the street and board the Quinjet.


	16. The Trial

Back at the Avengers Compound, Deke stands in the workshop, being fitted with a brand new time suit. The suit is white with red accents. Banner, who is now a merged version of both Hulk and Bruce, fiddles with the suit, making final adjustments, while Nebula assists. Daisy enters the lab, eyeing the suit.

"Time travel suit, I like it." She says.

Professor Hulk gives her a smile as he tries to fit a pair of red test tubes into the belt of the time suit. Scott enters the room and warns Professor Hulk to be careful with the tubes.

"I'm being very careful!" Professor Hulk shouts.

"You're being very hulky." Scott says back. "Those are Pym Particles." He states, pointing at the red test tube. "You can’t shrink to the Quantum Realm without them, and since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, we can’t make any more. We’ve only got enough for one round trip each, no do-overs."

"Plus two test runs, right?" Deke asks, fitting the Pym Particles into it's housing. Suddenly, Deke yells and shrinks to nothing. A couple of seconds later, he comes back.

"One test run." He says embarrassed. "I don't think I can do this-"

"I can do it." Fitz says, leaning in the doorway. Deke takes off the suit and gives it to Fitz, who puts it on. While Professor Hulk and Nebula work, Bobbi and Daisy enter to watch.

"Okay, Fitz, you might feel a little disoriented when you chronoshift-" Professor Hulks says while adjusting the suit.

"Hang on, I’ve got to ask, if we can do this, why don’t we just go find baby Thanos and, you know…" Bobbi asks, making a strangling motion with her hands.

"Uh, one, because that’s horrible." Professor Hulk says. "And, two, time doesn’t work like that." 

"Why not?" Scott asks. "We take the stones  
before Thanos gets them, then Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved."

"That's not how it works." Fitz cuts in.

"That's kind of what I heard..." Bobbi says.

"By who? Who told you that?" Professor Hulk asks.

"Oh I don't know, just every movie about time travel ever?" Bobbi responds.

"Think about it, if you travel to the past, then that past becomes your present, and your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future." Fitz explains. "If it worked the way the movies suggest, Deke would be gone, erased from existence."

Scott and Bobbi ponder on that for a minute and Professor Hulk and Nebula let Fitz know that they are ready for the trial. They lead him into the hangar onto the bigger, upgraded Quantum Tunnel. 

As Fitz stands alone on the platform, everybody gathers around to wait for his return. Professor Hulk readies the Quantum Tunnel by pressing several keys on the console with a pencil, his fingers too big for the buttons. 

"Okay, Fitz. Starting in three, two, one..." Professor Hulk says, and with a flip of a switch, Fitz disappears into thin air.

Fitz reappears years ago in a familiar place. He looks around at the Playground. Memories flash through his brain. Memories he'd kept down for years. His time in the lab with Jemma. Their first kiss. He pushes the memories down again and focuses. He runs to the lab, hoping to get a glimpse of Jemma.

When he reaches the lab, he freezes. Across the lab is Jemma, who stands there, looking through her files, unaware of Fitz's. Fitz tries to take it all in. The time-space GPS on Fitz's wrist beeps three times. 

"No, not yet." Fitz whispers to himself in a panic. "JEMMA!" he yells. Jemma turns around quickly, but Fitz is already gone.

"Fitz?" Jemma calls out to no one. She looks around the corner. "Fitz, where are you hiding?"

Fitz suddenly reappears in the Avengers Compound on the platform of the Quantum Tunnel. He is shaken by what he saw. A single tear falls down his face.

Daisy runs up to Fitz, crouches down, and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" She asks. "Hey, look at me. You okay?"

Fitz looks up tearfully. "It worked." He says. "It worked..."

There is a long silence. Everyone is speechless. The agents aren't exactly surprised, but the Avengers, especially Tony, didn't think it to be possible.

"Holy crap." Rocket says. "We're freaking time travellers!"


	17. The Time Heist

The team gathers around a set of six Holo-Boards. Each Holo-Board showcases a different Infinity Stone: Mind, Space, Time, Power, Reality, and Soul. Above each word hovers the artifacts the Stones are housed in: Loki's Scepter, the Tesseract, the Eye of Agamotto, the Orb, the Aether container, and a question mark, used to represent the mysterious Soul Stone.

"Okay." Fitz says, standing in front of the group alongside Steve. "Now that we’ve got how, we’re going to need where and when."

"About half of us here in this room have encountered at least one of the six Infinity Stones-" Steve starts.

"Or damn near been killed by one of them." Tony interrupts.

"We’ve only got enough Pym Particles for one round trip, each." Fitz continues. "And the Stones have been in a lot of places throughout history."

"Our history." Tony says, gesturing towards his fellow Avengers. "Not a lot of fun places to drop-in." 

"Which means we've got to pick our targets." Steve says, looking at Tony.

"Exactly." Fitz says. He taps the screen displaying the Reality Stone. "Thor, you've dealt with this one. What do you know about it."

"Right." Thor says as he stands up to his chair and walks up to the Holo-Board. "The Aether’s not a stone exactly, it’s more  
of an angry sludge. My grandfather hid it from Dark Elves in a rock between dimensions that can only be accessed every 5000 years." Thor thinks for a moment. "Well, Jane accessed the rock a couple of years ago. She stuck her hand in the rock, then the Aether stuck itself inside her. I took her to Asgard to keep her safe, so we should consider starting there." Thor finishes and goes back to sit down in his chair.

"Next up, the Power Stone." Fitz says, tapping on the next Holo-Screen. "Rocket, you're up."

"Yeah, yeah." Rocket says, groaning as his stands up. "Quill told me that he stole the Power Stone from Morag."

"Morag? Is that a person?" Daisy asks.

"It's a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket responds.

"Wait." Scott interrupts. "Like a planet… in space?"

Everybody rolls their eyes and ignores his question.

"That's basically all I know about it. Quill didn't say much." Rocket says, sitting down.

"All right. Nebula?" Fitz asks, gesturing towards the Holo-Screen displaying the Soul Stone.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula states, staying seated. 

"And that is…?" Natasha asks.

"A dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence." Nebula pauses and looks down. "It’s the place where Thanos murdered my sister."

There is a long moment of silence.

"Not it." Deke mutters. Fitz slaps him in the back of the head.

A couple of minutes later, Natasha, Bruce, and Tony begin to hash out ideas about the remaining stones.

"So this ‘Time Stone’ guy...what kind of doctor was he?" Natasha asks while everyone listens.

"Strange?" Professor Hulk asks. 

"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat." Tony says, rubbing his palm on his forehead.

"Wait, he lived in New York, right?" Natasha asks. Tony and Bruce nod their heads 'yes'. "Guys, pick the right year and there were three stones in New York."

Tony and Professor Hulk sit up and look at Natasha and then each other.

"The Battle of New York, of course!" Fitz mutters to himself. He runs up to the biggest Holo-Screen and begins constructing a plan. After a few moments, Fitz steps back, revealing a big, complex diagram of dozens of tangled lines connecting six stones to four locations to three years to sixteen heroes. 

"Okay, we have a plan. Six stones, six teams, one shot." Steve says. "Everyone, get your equipment ready. We go at dawn."

A couple of hours later, the team gathers in the hangar. They march towards the Quantum Platform, all wearing their Quantum suits. The brilliant yellow of the rising dawn shines through the big windows of the hangar.

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us." Steve starts to say. "We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves." There is a pause in his speech as they take their positions on the Quantum Platform. "But today we have a chance to take it all back." Steve continues. He looks around at the pairing of Avengers. "You have your teams and you have assignments. Get your stone, and get back here. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs." Steve looks down at his shield and grips it tightly. "Most of us are going back to places we know. That doesn’t mean we know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. Improvise, if  
you have to. We're all Avengers now." He says, looking at Daisy and the rest of the agents. "This is the fight of our lives. And we’re going to win." He pauses for a second. "Whatever it takes." 

The platform remains quiet for a few seconds after Steve finishes his speech.

"He's pretty good at that." Deke whispers to Scott. Scott nods enthusiastically.

"All right, you heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Mack calls out to Professor Hulk.

Smart Hulk taps in commands with his pencil. The lights of the Quantum Tunnel light up one by one. "Tracking beacons engaged" He says.

Nebula checks her pocket. A shrunken down version of the Benatar rests in it.

"You promise to bring that thing back in one piece?" Rocket asks her.

"Yes. I will bring it back." She says.

Professor Hulk steps onto the Quantum Tunnel, completing the lineup of heroes. The platform begins to vibrate. Natasha looks around to get a glimpse at the friends and heroes surrounding her. 

"See you in a minute." She says.

Suddenly, all of the Avengers, both old and new, vanish, shrinking down, travelling back in time.


	18. The Mind Stone

New York, 2012

The Battle of New York rages on. In the middle of it all, the Avengers gather in a circle against the impossible odds.

A few blocks away, Daisy, May, Bobbi, Steve, Tony, Clint, and Professor Hulk arrive in the mouth of an alley, just barely out of sight. 

They all touch the cuffs of their suits, deactivating them. All of them are wearing their signature suits, except for Cap, who is wearing the same suit as his 2012 counterpart. 

"We’ve all got our assignments. Two stones uptown, one stone down. Stay low, keep an eye on time." Steve says to everyone.

Just then, 2012 Hulk jumps down from the street above, landing just a few yards away, smashing cars and throwing Chitauri.

"And Bruce?" Steve says. "Maybe smash a few things along the way. For  
appearances." 

Bruce groans and heads off to find the Time Stone. He half-heartedly smashed a few cars along the way. 

"May and Bobbi, you two head into Stark Tower. Try to catch Nat on her way up to the roof with Loki's Scepter." Daisy commands. "Steve, Tony, Clint, Scott and I will head up to the roof. See if we can shut that portal down and get the Tesseract out." May nods in agreement, knowing her orders. Get the Scepter and get out. Sounds simple enough.

May and Bobbi run down the street towards Stark Tower. All around them, the streets are on fire and vehicles are exploding. Along the way to the Tower, they run into a few stray Chitauri. Bobbi throws her electric batons at one of them, killing it. May fires several shots into the remaining two, killing them instantly. 

They reach the front door of Stark Tower and find their way to the stairs.

"She's supposed to be reaching the 93rd floor in a few minutes. We better make our way up there so we can catch her before she gets to the roof." May says. They begin their ascent up the stairs. After several minutes, they reach the top floor. They sit outside the service elevator, waiting for 2012 Natasha to arrive. They listen to the explosions and screams coming from the streets below. After a few seconds, the elevator dings and the doors open, revealing Natasha, who is holding Loki's Scepter.

"Uh… hi?" 2012 Natasha asks, confused. "What are you two doing up here? This is a private floor."

"We need that Scepter." Bobbi says, walking toward Natasha.

"Haha...funny." 2012 Natasha says, keeping a straight face. 

Bobbi tries to quickly take the Scepter from Natasha's hands, but Natasha dodges it and presses the tip of the Scepter against Bobbi's heart. Bobbi blacks out and falls to the ground.

"No!" May yells. "I don't want to fight you, Nat. But I will." She says, cracking her neck and knuckles. 

May runs at Natasha and tries to punch her in the face. Natasha dodges underneath her arms and spins around, trying to poke May with the Scepter. May jumps back, narrowly avoiding the Scepter's touch. Natasha thrusts it towards May again, but May hits it hard to the side, knocking it out of Natasha's hands. Natasha freezes for a moment, giving May enough time to kick her in the stomach, causing her the stumble backwards. Natasha quickly recovers and comes full force towards May. She throws six quick punches at May, but May blocks all of them. May allows the seventh punch to hit, but absorbs the blow and punches Natasha hard in the nose. Blood instantly starts to gush out of her nose. Natasha is stunned and falls backwards onto the ground. May grabs Loki's Scepter.

"Give up." May tells the fallen Natasha. "Don't make me use this."

Natasha kicks May's legs out from under her, causing her to fall. Natasha jumps on top of her and starts punching her in the face. Still holding the Scepter in her right hand, May hits Natasha over the head with it, causing her to fall to the side. May quickly gets up off the ground. Natasha attempts to lunge at May again, but is stopped when May presses the tip of the Scepter against her chest, causing her to fall to the ground instantly. 

May runs over to Bobbi and presses the Scepter against her chest again. Bobbi wakes up with a gasp and looks over at 2012 Natasha. 

"You're telling me I missed the Calvary kicking Black Widow's ass!?" Bobbi asks, disappointed. May gives her a slight smile, tapping her time-space GPS. Right as they are about to travel back to the Compound, they both hear Tony on their coms.

"Guys?" Tony says in their ears. "You two need to get up here now. We've got a problem."

Bobbi and May look at eachother with concerned looks and then open the door saying "Rooftop Access" and begin to climb the stairs.


	19. The Power Stone

Morag, 2014

Stiff winds pelt the surface of Morag. Rhodey guides Nebula as she lowers the escape pod from the now full-sized Benatar.

"That’s it, right on that line, Blue. Keep dropping it." Rhodey directs.

A few feet away, Fitz surveys the planet. It reminds him of Maveth. He wants to get away from the planet and the memory as soon as possible.

"Hey, can we hurry it up?" Fitz asks Rhodey.

"Yeah, come on, chop chop, we’re on  
the clock, here." Natasha says, looking around at the planet. Geysers explode all around them and cliffs loom in the distance.

"All that? Really helpful!" Rhodey says sarcastically.

After a few more minutes of Rhodey directing the escape pod down, it lands on the ground with a thud.

Fitz and Mack go towards the Benatar to board it.

"You two take care of yourselves." Natasha calls after them.

"Get that stone and come back." Rhodey says. "No messing around. You guys watch  
each other’s six." Fitz nods his head in understanding.

A few moments later, Nebula, Rhodey, and Natasha watch as the Benatar takes off. 

"Coordinates for Vormir are laid in." Nebula states. "All they have to do is not fall out."

“So, all we have to do is hang out, wait for this Quill guy, and follow him to the Power Stone, right?” Rhodey asks Nebula.

“Let’s head into the city and take cover. We’re not the only ones in this reality looking for the stones.” Nebula says ominously.

“Wait.” Natasha asks. “Who else is looking for these stones?”

“My father. My sister. And me.” Nebula says slowly. Natasha and Rhodey exchange concerned looks.

“Well we better get going then.” Rhodey says. They start their expedition toward the abandoned city. After several minutes, they reach the Temple and take cover behind a pair of large rocks. They watch as Peter Quill, in a red, pleather trench coat and headphones, dances through the ruins of the alien city.

“So he’s an idiot.” Rhodey asks.

Nebula sighs and nods her head. As Quill spins, arms out and eyes shut, Natasha shoots one of her signature Widow Bites out of her bracelet. The Bite hits Quill on the neck and activates, electrocuting Quill. Quill passes out and falls to the ground.

“Sorry about that.” Natasha says to Nebula. “I know you guys were teammates and everything.”

“Do you hear me complaining?” Nebula asks, trying to hide a smile. She then bends down onto her knee and begins to rifle through Quill’s clothes. After a moment, she pulls out an electric lock pick.

“What is that thing?” Natasha asks.

“The tool of a thief.” Nebula responds, walking towards the large vault doors of the Temple. Nebula begins to pick the lock with Quill’s tool. A couple of seconds later, the lock clicks and the two stone doors begin to slowly open. Nebula takes a step to walk inside, but Rhodey tries to stop her.

“Hang on.” He says. “This would be about the time the spikes come out, you know, with the skeletons still on them?”

“What are you talking about?” Nebula asks, annoyed with Rhodey. 

“Traps and stuff.” Rhodey continues. Nebula spots the Orb hovering above it’s pedestal, surrounded by a web of laser threads. She steps inside, towards the Stone. “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Natasha and Rhodey study the lasers while Nebula continues to move forward.

“These are photovoltaic lasers on a constantly shifting matrix. Gonna be damn near impossible to neutralize unless we-” Rhodey’s words are cut short as Nebula sticks her cybernetic arm through the web of lasers to grab the Orb. She then pulls her fried arm out of the web with a little resistance. She hands the Orb to Natasha and starts blowing on her heated arm.

Nebula notices Rhodey and Natasha staring at her arm. “I wasn’t always like this.” She says, avoiding their eye contact. 

“Neither was I.” Rhodey says, thinking about his exoskeletal leg brace.

“Me neither. I used to be just an innocent little girl.” Natasha says somberly. “But now I’ve got red in my ledger.” She says quietly, thinking back to her time in the Red Room. “But we work with what we’ve got.” She continues, forcing a smile.

“Let’s get out of here.” Rhodey says to change the subject. “Place gives me the creeps. Sync up. Three...two...one…”

All three of them tap their Time-Space GPS’s, shrinking away into nothing.


	20. The Space Stone

New York City, 2012

As May and Bobbi run towards Stark Tower, Tony, Clint, Steve, Daisy, and Scott devise a way to get to the rooftop of Stark Tower. 

"Well I can use my powers to launch myself through the air." Daisy explains. "Tony, could your suit carry the weight of another person?" Tony nods. "Good. You'll carry Steve up. But what about Scott and Clint?"

"Hold on, I've got it." Scott says, closing his eyes to focus. Suddenly, an ant wizzes past Daisy's ear. Scott holds out his hand and the ant lands on it. Scott pulls out a blue Pym Particles disc and tells everyone to step back, which they do. Scott commands the ant to fly into the air and throws the disc at it. The ant grows to double the size of a human and Daisy lets out a scream.

"Clint and I can ride him up. Now I just have to name him…" Scott says, rubbing his hand on his chin.

"For God's sake, Scott, right now?" Tony asks impatiently.

"Ha. I've got it." Scott says. "Ant-Tony Stark." Tony gives Scott a dirty look, showing his unamusement. 

Scott and Clint hop on Ant-Tony Stark and take off. Steve jumps on Tony's back and Tony slowly ascends up the building. Daisy vibrates the air around her and launches herself through the air, cracking the pavement below.

Moments later, they all land on the rooftop and gather around the device opening the wormhole hundreds of feet above them. 

"Alright Daisy, do your thing." Steve says.

Daisy holds out her hands and attempts to alternate the vibrational frequencies of the machine. Several seconds pass, but the portal remains open. 

"It's not working." Daisy says. "This tech is far more advanced than any I've seen, and I can't hone in to the frequency of the Tesseract. How did you guys do it the first time?"

"It was a close call." Tony says, remembering the traumatic experience. "Natasha closed the portal right after I fell back through it. After I went through with the….. Shit."

“What? What’s wrong.” Daisy asks, looking back and forth from Steve, Clint, and Tony. Tony turns away from the group, rubbing his hand through his hair.

“We forgot about the fucking nuke.” Tony says, looking at Steve and Clint. “How did we forget about the nuke?” Steve looks out to the destruction taking place in New York. 

“If we don’t think of something fast, everyone in New York City is going to die.” Steve says in a panic.

“I’ll hack into your armor… the you from 2012.” Daisy says, frantically typing on her phone. “See if we can put that nuke somewhere else.” She continues to rapidly hack from her phone. After a couple seconds, she successfully hacks into 2012 Iron Man’s coms and hands the phone to Steve.

“Tony?” Steve calls out. “Do you have a hold of the nuclear weapon?”

2012 Tony responds. “Yeah, Cap, heading up to the portal now.”

“No! Tony, listen to me.” Steve says, panicking. “You need to throw it into space, not through the wormhole.”

“Space? Why-” Tony begins.

“Tony, stop running your mouth and just follow orders.” Steve snaps. “Nat can’t close the portal in time. You need to launch it into space. And please, don’t hit anything.”

“You got it, Cap.” Tony responds. Suddenly, 2012 Iron Man zooms passed Stark Tower, flying straight up. He barely misses the wormhole and continues to fly higher and higher into the atmosphere, until he can no longer be seen.

May and Bobbi enter through the stairwell leading up to the roof.

“Guys, what's the problem?” May asks, looking up at the wormhole. “Shouldn’t the portal be closed by now?”

“Yes, it should be.” Daisy says to May. “We can’t close it without the Scepter. We ran into a few other problems also.”

May runs up to the machine keeping the wormhole open. While all of the Avengers focus on her, she penetrates the forcefield with the Scepter, pushing the Tesseract out of the machine. The beam leading to the sky cuts off and Tony picks up the Tesseract with his nano gauntlet and places it into a briefcase. He then hands the briefcase to Steve. The Avengers look up to the sky, watching the portal close slowly.

Right before the portal can close, Thanos and his children exit the wormhole, floating on a pile of rocks controlled by Ebony Maw. They descend on New York.


	21. The Reality Stone

Asgard, 2013

Rocket, Deke, and Thor suddenly appear in the corridor of the Asgard palace. Deke looks around at the walls lined with gold. He thinks it's marvelous. They watch as an Asgardian maiden walks up to Jane's room and hands her a green dress.

"For you, Lady Jane." The maiden says.

"Um, do you have anything with…. pants?" They hear Jane say.

The maiden gives her a perplexed look. "Pants?"

"It's okay." Jane says. "Nevermind." Jane closes the large wooden door as they watch, Rocket with the syringe-like extraction device in his tiny hand.

"Okay, here’s the deal. Thor, you’re going to charm her, and I’m going to poke her with this thing, extract the Reality Stone, and get gone lickety-split." Rocket states while looking and Deke and Thor.

"Okay. Let's get this-" Thor starts to say. They hear several people start to approach. Rocket yanks Thor behind one of the large, stone columns. Frigga and her handmaidens enter the corridor.

“Who’s the fancy broad?” Rocket asks while they listen to Frigga tell the handmaidens to send supplies to Loki, who is imprisoned below the palace.

“My mother.” Thor says, looking at his mother somberly. “She dies today.”

“Oh, jeez.” Deke says under his breath.  
“You guys go ahead and get the Stone. Deke, you try and charm Jane” Thor says, still looking in the direction of his mother. “I would like to have one last conversation with my mother.” Thor says before taking off in the direction of his mother.

Rocket and Deke nod their heads in understanding. Deke begins to think about ways to seduce Jane.

“Do you have any lemons by any chance?” Deke asks Rocket.

“Oh yeah right here in my back pocket.” Rocket says sarcastically. “No, I don’t have any lemons, dipshit!” They run up to the large wooden doors leading into Jane’s temporary chamber. They knock on the doors, and Jane tells them to come in. They open the doors and enter the chamber. Jane sits up from her bed and watches them enter the room.

“You two… don’t look like you’re from here.” Jane says, confused.

“It’s a long story.” Rocket tells her. “Thor sent us to get that Stone.. Uh… red sludge out of you.” He says, holding up the extraction device.”

“Uh… okay… make it quick?” Jane says suspiciously. Rocket nods his head and inserts the device into her arm. Jane winces with pain and the Aether slowly extracts from her arm and inserts itself into the extraction device. Rocket makes his way to leave.

“Um.. thanks.” Deke says as he exits the chamber. Rocket and Deke wander around the corridor, trying to find Thor. After a couple of moments, they find him in Frigga’s chambers, standing in front of a balcony. Deke admires the sight of the rest of Asgard, having never seen anything so beautiful.

“Hi. You must be Mom.” Deke says to Frigga.

“We got the thing.” Rocket tells Thor, holding up the extraction device. “Come on, we gotta move-”

“I wish we had more time-” Thor begins to tell his mother.

“This was a gift. Now, go be the man you’re meant to be.” Frigga says to Thor with a warm smile. Thor smiles back at her, trying to memorize his mother's appearance. Thor, Rocket and Deke activate their time suit.

“Three...two…” Rocket counts down. 

“No!” Thor shouts, his eyes widening. “Wait!” He then holds out his hand dramatically. Nothing happens for a few seconds.  
“What am I looking at?” Deke says, bewildered.

“Sometimes it takes a second.” Frigga says, still smiling.

Suddenly, Mjolnir soars through the open window and into Thor’s hand. He looks at his mother, one last time.

“Goodby, mum.” He says.

“Goodbye, my sweet boy.” Frigga says back.

With a ‘whoosh’, Thor, Deke and Rocket disappear into nothing.


	22. The Time Stone

New York City, 2012

As Professor Hulk approaches the Sanctum Sanctorum, he looks up to the sky. Chitauri chariots zoom over his head, passing over the Sanctum. Suddenly, they explode out of the sky. Professor Hulk jumps up to the roof of the Sanctum and witnesses a hooded figure hurling jagged mandalas into the sky. He tries to sneak past and make his way through the door going into the Sanctum.

“I’d be careful going that way…” Professor Hulk turns to see the Ancient One staring at him. “We just had the floors waxed.” She says. He approaches her.

“I’m looking for Dr. Strange.” Professor Hulk states.

“You’re about five years too early.” The Ancient One tells him. “Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery, 20 blocks that way.” She says, pointing west. “What do you want with him?” Professor Hulk looks down and notices the Eye of Agamotto hanging from her neck.

“Well, that, actually.” He says, pointing at the necklace.

“Ah.” The Ancient One says, looking down at the Eye of Agamotto. “I’m afraid not. I wish I could help you, Bruce…”

“Why can’t you?” He asks while wondering how she knew his name.

“If I were to give up the Time Stone to help your reality, I’d be dooming my own.” The Ancient One explains.

“Yeah, with all due respect, I’m not sure the science supports that.” Professor Hulk tries to tell her.

She smiles for a second and then thrust out her arm, throwing a golden tunnel of magic through the air. Around the magical projection, the six Infinity Stones spin in unison.

“The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones, and the flow splits.” She explains. She plucks the green Time Stone out of its place on the timeline, and a small, blackened line of energy branches off from the main one. “Now, your timeline might benefit. My new one...not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world would be overrun…” She looks down the blackened river that branched off from the main one in terror, as if experiencing what would happen without the Time Stone.

One by one, she continues to pluck Infinity Stones from the main tunnel of magic, which represents the timeline. With every stone taken, a new blackened river of magic branches off. 

“For each stone you remove, you’ll create a new, vulnerable timeline. Millions will suffer.” The Ancient One explains, looking into Bruce’s eyes. “Now tell me, Doctor. Can your science prevent all that?”

“No. But it can erase it.” Bruce explains. He walks over to the projection and grabs the virtual Time Stone. He places it back onto the golden timestream, and the blackened timeline disappears.

“You’re leaving out the most important part, though. In order to put the stones back, you’d have to survive.” The Ancient One states, walking to the roof of the Sanctum, looking out on New York City.

“We will. I will. I promise.” Professor Hulk tells her.

‘I can’t risk this reality on a promise.” The Ancient One says with a slight chuckle. ‘It is the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone-”

“Yeah? Then why the hell did Strange give it away?” Professor Hulk asks.

The Ancient One snaps around and looks directly at Bruce, her eyes widened. “What did you say?” She questions.

“Strange gave Thanos the Time Stone.” Professor Hulk tells her.

“Willingly? Why?” She asks, bewildered.

“Don’t know. Maybe he made a mistake.” Professor Hulk says.

“Or I did.” The Ancient One says softly, looking away from Professor Hulk. “Strange is meant to be the best of us.”

“So he must have done it for a reason.” Professor Hulk says slowly.

“I fear you may be right…” She says with a little panic in her voice, her eyes snapping towards the portal looming over New York City. Suddenly, with the movement of her two hands, she opens the Eye of Agamotto, takes out the Time Stone, and hands it to Bruce. “Bring it back right to this moment.” She pauses. “So I can stop that.” She says, pointing to the wormhole above New York. Professor Hulk follows her hand. In the distance, he sees something descending from the portal that shouldn’t be. The portal should already be closed, he thinks.

“I’m counting on you, Bruce. We all are.” She tells him with worry in her eyes.


	23. The Soul Stone

Fitz and Mack exit the jump point and see their destination: Vormir. As Fitz pilots the Benatar to Vormir, Fitz thinks of how beautiful of a planet it is. He thinks about how much Jemma would have loved to visit it, instead of that dry wasteland, Maveth. 

Fitz lands beside one of the many pockets of water across the sandy landscape. He and Mack exit the Benatar and gaze up at the wonderful view. A neighboring moon is right between Vormir and a red star, giving off a marvelous light, similarly to a solar eclipse. Looking up at the two stone towers on top of the steep cliff, Fitz asks Mack what he thinks the view is like from the top.

"I guess we better start climbing to find out." Mack says. They walk towards the cliff and begin their ascend on the stone staircase.

About an hour later, they near the top of the stone structure. As they are about to reach the summit, a ghostly voice reaches out to them and speaks. 

"Welcome, Leopold, son of Lorraine. Alphonso, son of Teri." The mysterious voice calls out. Suddenly, the voice steps out of the shadows, revealing a floating hooded figure.

"You… know us?" Mack asks. 

"It is my curse to know all who journey here." The hooded figure responds eerily. 

"Where is the Soul Stone?" Fitz asks the figure.

"You should know…" The voice says, creeping out of the shadows. "it extracts a terrible price."

"We are ready." Mack states.

"We all think that at first." The voice tells them. "We are all wrong."

"How do you know all of this?" Fitz asks.

"A lifetime ago, I, too, sought the stones. I even held one in my hand." The voice says, stepping out more from the shadows, revealing his bright red face. "But it cast me out, banished me here."

"I recognize you." Fitz says. "You- you're Johann Schmidt, aren't you? The Red Skull?"

"I was. Now I am just the Stonekeeper." The Stonekeeper says. "I am required to guide others to the treasure I cannot possess. The Soul Stone."

"Show us to it." Mack says. The Stonekeeper glides above the ground to a semicircular engraving in the stone, which overlooks a sheer drop.

"What you seek lies before you. As does what you fear." The Stonekeeper states. "The Stone demands a sacrifice."

"Of what?" Fitz asks.

"In order to take the stone you must lose that which you love. A soul... for a soul." The Stonekeeper says.

Mack and Fitz look at each other, fear in their eyes. After a split second of thinking, Fitz takes a step towards the edge of the cliff. Mack grabs his arm and yanks him back.

"Are you crazy!?" Mack yells. "There's got to be another way. You're not even going to think about it? You're just going to jump?" 

"I was planning on it, yeah." Fitz responds, looking into Mack's eyes.

"I lost you once, Fitz. I won't do it again." Mack says. 

"Yeah? Well maybe I don't deserve to live after all I've done." Fitz tells Mack. "Daisy told me what happened back at the Lighthouse. How I- how I cut her open."

"That wasn't you, Turbo…" Mack says.

"Yes it was! Those thoughts- that kind of… mental split doesn't just come out of nowhere, Mack." Fitz responds. "It builds up over time. I'm afraid that it'll happen again."

"It won't." Mack reassures him. "And even if it does, you'll be fine. You've been through worse. Don't you want to see Jemma again?"

"Of course I want to see her again!" Fitz shouts. "But I'd be doing this for her! Maybe she's better off without me anyways! We're cursed! Maybe I don't deserve a happy ending." He says somberly, looking over the edge.

"After all you've been through, Fitz, you two deserve that more than any of us." Mack responds. "Elena will be fine without me, but Jemma wouldn't be able to live without you." 

Fitz sits there in silence. He knows that Mack is right, but he won't let him die. There's got to be another way. Fitz racks his brain, trying to think of a solution.

Mack lets go of Fitz's arm. And he jumps.

Fitz jumps off after him. He grabs onto the ledge of the cliff with his robotic hand, digging it into the rock. With his other hand, he grabs onto Mack's arm, holding on for dear life. 

"Mack, just hold on..." Fitz says, his voice quivering. He looks up towards the top of the cliff, looking for something, anything to help Mack.

"It's okay, Turbo." Mack says. Fitz looks back down at Mack. A single tear forms in Mack's eye and falls down into the abyss below. "Let me go. It's okay."

"NO, MACK!" Fitz yells in terror, tears starting to fall down his face. "I won't let you-"

Suddenly, Mack kicks off the wall, breaking free from Fitz's grip. Mack falls hundreds, thousands of feet below, until he hits the ground with a loud crack. Fitz screams at the top of his lungs, tears pouring out of his eyes. He looks down at Mack's body and sees it sprawled out on the rocky bottom below, blood pouring out of the back of his head. While Fitz is dangling from the edge, the world around him goes white.

When the bright light finally fades, Fitz lies in a pool of water at the base of the mountain. He quickly sits up, causing the water to shift. He looks around for Mack, hoping it was just a dream. It wasn't. 

Fitz opens his hand. The orange glow of the Soul Stone shines on his face. His eyes welled up with tears, he closes his fist and hits it against the water several times.


	24. Thanos and His Children

As Thanos and his children slowly descend on New York, the Avengers on Stark Tower ready themselves to return home. Right before they hit their cuffs to travel back to their time, Professor Hulk jumps onto the roof and stops them.

"We can't leave like this!" He shouts. "We'd be dooming this reality, millions of people would die! We've at least got to try and stop that!"

"Bruce is right." Steve says. "We've gotta get down to street level. We can't take them from up here. "

"I can." Daisy says, aiming her hand at Thanos.

May grabs Daisy's arm and pushes it downward. "Steve is right. We are all vulnerable up here."

They then quickly think of ways to get down. They all plan to go down the way they came up with the exception of May and Bobbi. May will piggyback ride on Daisy's back while she lowers them to the ground with her powers, while Bobbi will be carried by Professor Hulk.

They swiftly make their way toward street level. They gather in a tight formation, ready to take on Thanos and his children. Ebony Maw lowers Thanos and the other children to the ground until the rocks around them crumble.

"Hear me and rejoice!" Ebony Maw starts to say.

"I've heard this one before." Professor Hulk whispers.

"Let's skip the cult talks, huh?" Tony says, firing up his Repulsors. Without warning, he shoots, but Ebony quickly lifts a piece of debris to block it. Ebony retaliates, throwing the loose piece of debris at the team. Daisy stops it dead in its tracks with her powers. Scott shrinks down and charges toward them. Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight run at them, while Thanos stays behind. Bobbi and Captain America fight Proxima Midnight's attacks, Bobbi with her batons and Cap with his shield. Daisy and May fight off Corvus Glaive, May wielding Loki's Scepter against him. Ebony Maw continues to throw debris while Clint fires arrows from behind. Iron Man takes to the skies and rains fire from above. 

All of the sudden, Ebony Maw launches Thanos through the air so that he's behind the Avengers. He lands beside Hawkeye and picks up a nearby car with ease. Thanos swiftly brings the car down on Hawkeye's head, killing him instantly. He then runs up to Professor Hulk and punches him strongly in the gut, knocking him back. Daisy takes her focus off of Corvus Glaive and uses her concussive blasts on Thanos, slowing him down significantly. Ebony Maw sets his eyes on Iron Man, throwing debris left and right. Iron Man tries to keep up by blowing the debris apart with his blasters. However he cannot keep up and is hit square in the face with a truck. He is slammed up against a building and Ebony Maw uses his powers to send a piece of rebar through his armor, pinning him to the wall. Tony screams in agony.

As Daisy continues to slow down Thanos with her powers, she hears another scream of pain. As she turns around, she watches as Corvus Glaive lifts May off the ground with his glaive stuck deep inside her chest. 

"MAY!" Daisy yells at the top of her lungs. She shoots a concussive blast full force at Corvus Glaive, sending him back several yards, ripping the weapon out of May, who then falls to the ground, dropping the Scepter. Daisy hits the ground with her powers, which sends Thanos and the rest of his children flying backwards. 

Daisy and the rest of the Avengers, besides Tony and Clint, run up to May's fallen corpse to regroup. Daisy kneels down beside May and cups her cheek in her hand.

"You guys need to leave!" Tony shouts painfully, still pinned to the wall.

Daisy starts racking her mind of places to take May. She needs to save her. Daisy begins to cry and breaks down. Steve holds tightly to the briefcase holding the Tesseract and hands Loki's Scepter to Bobbi. Suddenly, Daisy gets an idea.

"Everyone needs to get back to the Compound with the Stones." Daisy says through her tears. "Everyone except Scott." Scott pushes himself closer to Daisy to figure out where, or when, he's going.

"Scott I need you to go find Hank Pym. Get some more Pym Particles and bring them to us." Daisy says. When Scott asks when she will be, Daisy gives him a date in early 2015.

"How will I find you?" He asks, confused.

Daisy activated her and May's time suits. "Just call for Gordon." Daisy says, still clutching May's body. She pressed her cuff and she and the rest of the Avengers shrink down into nothing.


	25. Afterlife

Daisy reappears in the middle of a random forest in 2015, still holding May’s body closely. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and calls out for Gordon. Instantaneously, a ball of blue energy surrounds Daisy and May. 

“Take me to my mother.” Daisy tells Gordon. He nods, putting a hand on both Daisy and May, teleporting them to Afterlife. They reappear in Jiaying’s office. Jiaying quickly stands up from her desk and runs over to Daisy. She puts her hand on Daisy’s shoulder and looks down at May. She sees the SHIELD badge on her jacket and backs away from the two.

“She’s SHIELD.” Jiaying says in a tone of almost disgust. “Gordon, why did you bring her here.”

“She’s my friend.” Daisy yells at her mother before Gordon can speak. “And she’s dying! I need your help, Mom!” Jiaying reluctantly knees back down next to May and studies her.

“There is nothing anyone here can do for her.” Jiaying says. “We have no Inhumans here that can heal this severe of a wound. I’m sorry, Skye.” She tries to explain.

“You can help her.” Daisy says through her tears. “We can use some of your DNA, can’t we?”

“Skye…” Jiaying starts to say. Daisy hadn’t been called Skye in a long time. “I don’t know about this…”

“Please…” Daisy says, looking up at Jiaying. “You have to help us.” She thinks for a moment and then addresses Gordon.

“Find Lincoln.” Jiaying tells Gordon. Daisy freezes at the sound of his name, her mouth dropping slightly. Ever since he died, she's had a hole in her heart. She never got to say the things she wanted to him. “Tell him to prep the lab for surgery.”

Gordon nods and disappears in a flash of blue light. A couple of seconds later, he reappears with Lincoln by his side. 

“Skye?” Lincoln questions. Daisy nods her head yes, but doesn’t turn to look at him. A single tear falls down her face. Lincoln looks past Daisy and at May. “She’s lost a lot of blood, I think it might be too late.”

“Please, try.” Daisy manages to get out, her throat closed up. Lincoln nods.

"We've got to get her to the lab. Now." Lincoln says to Gordon. Gordon quickly knees down next to May, putting one hand on her and the other on Lincoln. They teleport away together and Gordon comes back by himself. He then teleports Daisy and Jiaying to the lab. Lincoln hastily hooks May up to several machines. After a moment, he pauses and looks up at Daisy, whose eyes are filled with tears

"She's dead." Lincoln states. Daisy lets out a soft whimper. "But I think we can bring her back. If Jiaying agrees of course."

"You really trust this woman?" Jiaying asks Daisy.

"Yes. With my life." Daisy responds, combing her hand through May's hair. Jiaying nods at Lincoln and he hooks her up to a seperate machine to drain a portion of her DNA and insert it into May. Lincoln then begins stitching up May's wound so that she can properly heal. After a long process, May's faint heartbeat is recorded on the heart rate monitor. Daisy breathes a sigh of relief.

"She'll be out for a little bit." Lincoln says to Daisy. "I think you should get some rest." Daisy looks down at her feet.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you. Outside?" Daisy says. Lincoln agrees and walks with her outside into the warm sun. 

"I have something to say." Daisy says, looking into Lincoln's eyes for the first time. "I love you."

"What? Skye, we just met a few days ago." Lincoln says, confused. Daisy looks down at her feet again, avoiding eye contact.

"Only for you..." Daisy tells him. "Can I tell you something?" She says, looking into his eyes once more. Lincoln nods, still confused.

"I'm not from here." Daisy says. "I'm from the future." Lincoln scoffs.

"The future?" He says with a laugh. "What are you talking about."

"Bad things happen in the future." Daisy explains. "Half of all life. Erased. I came back with a group to stop it."

"Did I-" Lincoln begins to ask.

"No." Daisy says, wiping away a tear. "You were gone before that."

"Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?" He asks her, worried.

"You- you sacrificed yourself to save the team. To save the world." Daisy says, trying to hold down the lump in her throat. Lincoln turns away, trying to take it all in. "And I didn't get to say goodbye or tell you all of the things I needed to tell you. I thought… maybe I could tell you now, so you know if what happens to you… happens." Lincoln turns back around towards Daisy and nods. Daisy takes his hand.

"This won't make much sense to you now, Lincoln, but I love you." Daisy says, choking on her tears. "I miss you every single day. You sacrificed your life for me. I didn't ask you to do that and it felt like a part of me was ripped away. It's been eight years since I lost you, Lincoln. You cross my mind all the time. I think we were meant to be together forever, but our time was cut short. Being here with you, seeing you again, I think it's finally time for me to heal. But I won't move on." Daisy thinks back to Jemma's words when they all said goodbye to Coulson. "I'll lock the door, visit from time to time, but I'll never move on. Even after I've said goodbye."

Before Lincoln has a chance to respond, Gordon appears behind them, accompanied by Scott Lang. He holds out 3 Pym Particles.

"I have to leave now, Lincoln." Daisy says, tears in her eyes. She hugs Lincoln tightly. "I love you, Lincoln." She whispers in his ear. 

"I love you too, I think." Lincoln tells her back. They break away from each other. Daisy looks down at his hand, which she is still holding onto tight. She takes a deep breath and exhales. She lets go of his hand and heads inside the lab with Scott. She quickly says goodbye to Jiaying and Gordon. Daisy and Scott activate theirs and May's time suits with the newly acquired Pym Particles and press the cuffs, shrinking down into nothing.


	26. Coming Back

As if they had never left, all of the Avengers, with the exception of Tony, Clint and Mack, grow back to normal size on the Quantum Platform. Everyone looks around amazed and exhausted for a split second. They got all of the Stones. Suddenly, Fitz drops to his knees, still clutching the Soul Stone in his fist.

“Fitz…” Daisy says in a low voice, looking around the circle for Mack. “Where- where’s Mack.” Fitz just sits there, his whole body shaking. She walks over to him and crouches down and puts a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to her, his eyes glassy. Slowly, the rest of the Avengers look around the room and realize that not everybody made it back.

“Where’s Clint?” Natasha asks in a panic.

“Where’s Tony?” Rhodey asks. Steve looks up at Rhodey and begins to speak.

“They- they didn’t make it.” Steve says. “Thanos and his posse, they… killed them.” Natasha lets out a suppressed sob, trying to stay strong. Rhodey stares in disbelief. He thought Tony was unstoppable. As Rhodey looks out the large windows of the hangar, Thor speaks up.

“Why are we talking as if they’re dead? We have the stones. We can bring them back, can’t we?” Thor argues. Professor Hulk shakes his head.

“Mack can’t come back. No matter what we do.” Fitz says in a low voice.

“What’s he talking about? Of course, we can. We have all of the stones now, what's stopping us?” Thor says back.

“It can’t be undone.” Fitz says, somberly. Daisy rubs her hand on his back.

“No offense, but you’re...a very earthly being. We’re talking about space magic, here. “Can’t” seems a little definitive, don’t you think?” Thor responds.

“It can’t be undone. At least that’s what the Red Skull said. But why don’t you go talk to him, okay? Why don’t you grab your hammer and fly to that place and talk to him. IT CAN’T BE UNDONE.” There’s a pause in Fitz’s words he takes a deep breath, swallowing the knot in his throat. “It was supposed to be me. He sacrificed his life for that goddamn stone. He bet his life on it.”

“Fitz, did you say Red Skull?” Steve says, his eyebrows raised and head cocked. Fitz nods. “That son of a bitch.” Steve mumbles under his breath.

“We can’t bring Tony or Clint back either, that would completely screw over the other timeline. Millions would suffer.” Professor Hulk says. “We’d be no better than Thanos.”

“They aren’t coming back.” Daisy says, her hand still resting on Fitz’s back. “We have to make it worth it. We have to.” What remains of the Avengers nod their heads, accepting that they are gone for good. After a couple of minutes, Fitz picks himself up off the ground, telling everyone with one of the Infinity Stones to follow him.

“We’ve got to get to work.” Fitz says as he heads to the lab with the rest of the Avengers. A single tear falls down his face.


	27. The Snap Back

After a couple of hours of working on the new Nano Gauntlet to hold the six Infinity Stones, Fitz is almost finished. The Stones sit behind a thick wall of safety glass. While the Avengers watch him, Fitz slowly controls six robotic arms and picks up the Stones one by one. Very carefully, he directs them to their designated slots on the Gauntlet. As he inserts the Stones into the Gauntlet, the Nano tech shifts and slides, until it holds the Stones in place. Fitz lets out the deep breath he’s been holding in for the past minute. The completed Nano Gauntlet sits in a cradle, six Infinity Stones embedded in the back. 

“All right. The glove’s ready. Question is, who’s gonna snap their freaking fingers?” Rocket asks. For a moment, everyone just stares at each other and the Gauntlet. 

“I’ll do it.” Fitz says, reaching for the Gauntlet. Daisy grabs his arm to hold him back.

“We haven’t decided who’s going to use it yet, Fitz.” May, who is back on her feet, says.

“I built the bloody thing. I’ll be the one to use it.” Fitz shouts impatiently. “The way I engineered this gauntlet,” He explains. “It’ll suck up all the energy from the Stones and channels it throughout the gauntlet itself, which in theory, should limit physical damage to the user.”

Daisy knows that Fitz won’t back down and let someone else use it. “Are you ready?” She asks him. He nods his head.

“Okay, remember,” Steve begins to tell Fitz. “Everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago, you’re just bringing them back...to today. Don’t change anything from the last five years. Got it?”

“Got it.” Fitz says, looking down at the Nano Gauntlet. Using the A.I. in his suit, Rhodey activates ‘Barn Door Protocol’ and steel doors enclose the entire room, including the skylight. Fitz takes a deep breath and holds up the Nano Gauntlet. 

“Everybody comes home.” He whispers to himself. He exhales and slowly slips his non-robotic arm into the glove. Suddenly, he spasms, taking in the reduced amount of the energy emitting from the Infinity Stones. He gasps in pain.

“What’s happening? Take it off, take it off!” Daisy shouts, moving towards Fitz.

“No, wait.” May says. “Fitz are you okay?” Fitz struggles to speak.

“Bobo, talk to us!” Deke calls out to Fitz.

“I’m- I’m good.” Fitz says through the pain, giving them all a thumbs up. Fitz then reaches out his hand, lifts it up to the sky, and snaps his fingers. A loud thunderous crack forces itself through the air around them. The stones flare and a bright surge of energy rushes up Fitz’s arm, slightly withering it. His eyes roll to the back of his head and he passes out, dropping the Gauntlet. Daisy runs up to Fitz, checking his pulse. 

“Fitz!” Steve shouts. 

“Don’t move him!” May tells Steve and Daisy. Rhodey runs over and sprays a type of cooling gel on Fitz’s arm to help ease the pain. Fitz catches his breath. 

Deke takes his attention off of Fitz and looks over his shoulder. The blast doors slowly open and he can hear chirping right outside the window. He gets up and slowly walks towards the large windows looking out to the courtyard.

All of the sudden, a phone starts to buzz. It immediately catches Bobbi’s attention and she pauses, stunned. After a second, she makes her way to her phone. On the home screen, it reads: “Lance Hunter Calling”, displaying a photo of his face. She picks up her phone and answers it.

“Hunter?” She says, tears forming in her eyes.

At the window, Deke stares out at a bird feeder. Dozens of cardinals and finches nibble on the seeds. “Guys?” Deke shouts across the room. “I think it worked!”

Fitz opens his eyes and looks out the skylight right above him. A dark shadow casts itself over him and the other Avengers. A spaceship. ‘Has Jemma found her way back so soon?’ He wonders. As if telling him no, large volley of missiles come raining down, exploding the Compound around them.


	28. The Destruction of the Compound

Fitz, Deke, Rhodey, Rocket and Professor Hulk are scattered in the ruins of the underground garage. The ceiling lies half collapsed. Professor Hulk grits his teeth as he holds up the half collapsed ceiling with both of his arms. Fitz lies unconscious under several rocks. Rocket is also trapped underneath rubble. Deke is nowhere to be seen. Rhodey starts to suffocate in his sparking War Machine suit.

“Canopy! Canopy!” He yells. His suit opens up and he falls out, unable to walk with his paralyzed legs. “Mayday! Natasha. Cap. Does anybody read me?!” Rhodey shouts into his coms.  
With his strong, robotic arm, Fitz lifts the rubble off of himself and throws it to the side. He looks down at his lower half and everything seems to be fine. He’s having a serious case of Deja Vu. He calls out for Deke.

“Deke!?” He yells. He hears a faint mumble in the corner, coming from underneath a pile of rubble. He painfully walks over to the rubble and begins to lift the rocks and push them aside. After moving a couple of rocks, he sees Deke’s bruised face, blood oozing out from his temple.

“I’ve got you, Deke.” Fitz says.

“I hope you saved some energy.” Deke mumbles, his breathing irregular. “My leg’s pinned, I think it's broken. You’ll have to carry me out” He says with a slight chuckle.

“All right, I’ve got you.” Fitz states while continuing to move the rocks. “Just…” He pauses. He looks down at Deke’s torso. A sheet of metal is lodged halfway through his body, blood flowing out quickly.

“I think it’s a bad break, 'cause I can't feel it.” Deke says, covering his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“Relax.” Fitz says, tearings forming in his eyes. “Just breath.” He says, taking a deep breath himself. 

“Huh?” Deke says, looking away from his hands and into his grandfather’s eyes. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay.”

“Yeah, I'm gonna stay with you…” Fitz says, his voice cracking. He grabs onto Deke’s hands. “...while we find a way out of this.” Deke nods, not entirely paying attention.

“Right. We better get them out.” Deke says, pointing at Rhodey, Rocket, and Professor Hulk, studying the destruction around them. Fitz looks down, unable to say anything.

“You did good, Deke. You did really good.” Fitz says, his tears falling while he tightly holds Deke’s hands.

“Okay…” Deke mumbles. He is silent for a moment and then he closes his eyes. A couple of seconds later, he picks up his head and opens his eyes with a gasp. He makes direct eye contact with Fitz.

“Bobo…” Deke says slowly. “I think my legs are broken.” Deke murmurs, looking into Fitz’s eyes. After a second of staring deep into Fitz’s eyes, yet not entirely there, Deke lays his head against the rubble, closing his eyes one last time. Fitz begins to sob, lowering his head against Deke’s hands.  
Suddenly, water begins flowing into the ruins of the garage at a rapid pace.

In the ruins of the tool shop, Scott Lang lies on the silver, metal floor. Right after the first blast hit, he instinctively became minuscule to protect himself from the explosions. 

"-anyone...mayday…mayday." Scott hears Rhodey calling over coms. 

"Huh?" Scott groans, coming to. He sits up and looks at the enlarged ruins around him. He assumes that he must've fallen below into the armory. He turns around and notices a new Iron Patriot helmet sitting on the floor on the armory.

"Tell ‘em to...hurry...asses up-" Rocket tells Rhodey over coms, cutting in and out.

" ...trapped...drowning...no time..." Rhodey calls out to anyone who's listening.

Scott presses against the communication device in his ear, activating it.

"No! Wait, I'm here!" Scott says loudly into the coms. Scott looks down at the crack floor and sees water trickling through it slowly. He figures that this river will lead him to where they got trapped and heads through the crack, surfing the waves deeper below the Compound.

Water drops from a hole in the roof of an access tunnel onto Bobbi. She wakes up with a jolt from the cold water splashing on her face. Then, she looks down into her hand to see her cracked phone displaying a picture of Hunter, saying she has one missed call from him. She winces as she stands up. Looking down to where she was lying, she notices the Nano Gauntlet on the floor, all six Infinity Stones still in place.

She picks up the gauntlet, puts it underneath her arm like a football, and explores the access tunnel.

"Daisy? May? Anyone?" She calls out on coms as she goes deeper into the tunnel. No response. To her left, she hears a soft groan. May is lying down on the floor, coming to. 

"What- what happened?" May asks groggily. Bobbi grabs her hand and helps her up off the ground.

"We were attacked. By who, that's another question." She responds, peering down the dark tunnel. Listening closely, she hears a scraping sound against the concrete of the tunnel. She hands May the gauntlet and takes her batons out from behind her, igniting the electric shock on one of them. The electrical surges on the baton emits a small light and she throws it down the dark tunnel, lighting it up slightly as it goes. Dozens of outriders scramble on the ceiling and walls of the tunnel. She recalls her baton, catching it with ease, and tells May to run. The creatures make a screeching noise and chase after them.

In the ruins of the lab, the ceiling has collapsed and fires smolder, filling the room with smoke. In the middle of it all lies Daisy, who is out cold. Natasha stumbles over to Daisy and knees beside her, shaking her. Daisy wakes with a gasp and sits up quickly. She groans as pain shoots up her side from where she was hit by a large piece of the ceiling. She looks over at Steve, who stands with his shield on his arm, looking up at the huge spaceship in the sky. 

“What happened?” Daisy asks, disoriented.

“It’s like Tony said.” Natasha explains. “‘You mess with time, time tends to mess back.’” She says while helping Daisy up. Steve, slightly limping, leads them through the ruins of the lab.

“Where are the others?” Daisy asks as they walk. Steve and Natasha look at each other.

“We don’t know.” Natasha says after a moment, looking into Daisy’s eyes. They reach a large hole in the stone wall and carefully step out. Thor stands on the edge of the crater, looking down at someone.

Thanos sits on a rock, waiting. He holds something in his hand.

“What’s he been doing?” Steve asks.

“Absolutely nothing.” Thor responds, refusing to take his eyes off of Thanos. The four of them stare at Thanos for a long moment. As if sensing them, Thanos turns his head, looking directly at them. He smirks.

“Where are the stones?” Daisy asks the group.

“Somewhere under all of this. All I know is...he doesn’t have ‘em.” Natasha tells her.

“Let's keep it that way.” Daisy says. This is their chance to finally end it. Kill Thanos again, for good this time.

“It’s a trap, right?” Natasha asks. 

“Probably.” Daisy says. “But I don’t really care.” She twists the gauntlets around her wrists, making sure they are secure. Steve pulls on the strap of his shield, tightening it. Thor reaches out both of his hands to the sky. Dark clouds of lightning flow onto the battlefield. A large lightning bolt lights up the dark sky. All of the sudden, Mjolnir and Stormbreaker fly into his hands. Lightning strikes again as Thor becomes covered in his cape and armor. Gripping his shield tightly, Captain America leads them into the crater towards Thanos.


	29. Worthy

They approach Thanos slowly as he sits on a rock, contemplating. In one hand, he holds a double sided blade and in the other, a helmet. Iron Man’s helmet, blooding dripping from the bottom.

“You could not live with your own failure.” Thanos says, twirling Tony’s decapitated head in his huge palm. “And where did that bring you? Right back to me.” He says, slowly looking up at Thor, Natasha, Cap, and Daisy. They all notice Tony’s head at the same time and pause for a moment. Thanos notices their shock and addresses it. “After you all disappeared, I took him to my ship.” He says, looking at Tony’s head. “I had Maw reverse engineer the particles you used to travel back. Tony showed me the way to travel forward, unwillingly of course. Before I broke him, he told me all about how you wretched Avengers cut off my head. So I cut off his.” He rolls the Iron Man helmet towards the four. It stops right before it reaches their feet all they all look down in mourning.

“I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive.” Thanos monologues. “But you’ve shown me that’s impossible. Life clings to the past with bloody fingernails. As long as there are those who remember what was, there will be those unable to accept what can be. They will resist.” 

“Yep.” Daisy says with a sarcastic smile, her arms held out in Thano’s direction. “We’re all kinds of stubborn.”

“I’m thankful. Because now I know what I must do.” Thanos says. He grabs his helmet from the top of his double sided blade and puts it on his head. “I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the stones you’ve collected for me, create a new one, teeming with life that knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given. A grateful universe.”

“One born out of blood.” Steve says angrily. Thanos glares at Steve. 

“They’ll never know it.” Thanos tells them, standing up from his rock. He picks up his large sword, preparing to defend himself. “Because you won’t be alive to tell it.” Daisy turns around and looks at Thor, Cap, and Natasha. They all nod their heads. Daisy throws her arm out, shooting a steady beam of concussive blasts at Thanos, causing him to stumble backwards. At the same time, Natasha shoots a Widow Bite at him, which he barely reacts to. Thor soars through the air and charges at Thanos, swinging Stormbreaker at his head, trying to take it clean off. Steve throws his shield towards Thanos and Daisy blasts it in the sky, causing it to zip through the air towards Thanos. Thanos reacts by picking up Thor and using his body to block the shield, knocking Thor aside, causing him to drop Mjolnir and Stormbreaker. Thanos grabs Cap’s shield and launches it at Natasha, knocking her out cold. Steve runs over to Natasha and picks up his shield. He charges at Thanos, slashing furiously with his shield. Thanos blocks his attacks with his sword. While Steve recovers, Thanos grabs him by the leg and throws him several feet behind Daisy. 

Daisy’s eyes follow Steve as he flies across the battlefield. As she turns her head back, she notices a faint orange glow coming from behind her, but she doesn’t have any time to acknowledge it. Thor attacks Thanos from behind, but Thanos blocks it and drives Thor through a pile of debris. As Thanos repeatedly punches Thor in the face, Daisy focuses, holding her hands together, creating a quake ball similar to the one she used against LMD Coulson and Mack. Thor calls for Stormbreaker, but Thanos intercepts it. He presses the blade into Thor’s chest, trying to cut him open. 

Suddenly, Daisy’s eyes catch something moving in the field around her. Her quake ball disappears as she notices Mjolnir rising into the air. Without warning, it launches itself towards Thanos, hitting him in the back of the head, causing him to drop Stormbreaker. Thanos and Thor both watch as Mjolnir flies back towards Daisy. 

It soars past her. Daisy turns around and gasps.

With a loud thud, Mjolnir lands in the hand of none other than Phil Coulson. Phil Coulson is worthy of Mjolnir. “Gotta say,” Coulson shouts to Thor. “Not that heavy!” He smirks while shrugging his shoulders. Coulson sprints to Cap’s unconscious body and grabs his shield, strapping it to his arm. “Stay back!” He shouts towards Daisy, running at Thanos while wielding Captain America’s shield and Mjolnir. “The others are running a little late!”

Daisy watches in awe as Coulson charges towards Thanos without hesitation, no fear at all. Coulson swings Mjolnir round and round as he runs. When he reaches Thanos, he jumps in the air, making contact with Thanos’ jaw. Thanos flies backwards. Coulson then throws Cap’s shield. Thanos hits it aside with his sword and Coulson throws Mjolnir. It hits the shield as it flies behind Thanos, resulting in a thunderous boom that rocks the battlefield, causing Thanos to tumble forward. Before the Titan can recover, Coulson raises Mjolnir in the air. The sky cracks with thunder. Lightning flies down from the sky and Coulson directs it at Thanos. Thanos’ body crackles with the electricity for several seconds. Coulson leaps at Thanos, trying to finish him off. However, Thanos rolls to the side and stabs Coulson in the leg. Coulson screams in pain, stumbling backwards toward Daisy. Thanos pulls off his helmet and charges toward Coulson. He ferociously swings his blade at Coulson. All Coulson can do is block with Cap's shield. 

After a couple of blows, Thanos’ sword lodges itself into Cap’s shield. Coulson looks up at Thanos in shock. Thanos looks down on him with a faint smile. He continues to swing at the shield, tearing it to pieces. Coulson continues to stumble backwards, the shield now torn in half. He trips over a piece of debris and Thanos swings his sword again, aiming right at Coulson's head.

“NO!” Daisy yells, pushing out with her arms at full force. A huge vibrational wave shoots out of her palms, flying across the battlefield, knocking Thanos back several feet before he can kill Coulson. Daisy runs up to Coulson to help him up and brings him backwards, further away from Thanos.

“In all my years of conquest…” Thanos begins, looking out to Daisy and Coulson, who are struggling to stand. “Of violence and slaughter...it was never personal.” He gestures behind him as a loud rumble echoes across the battlefield. Thousands of aliens ring the lip of the crater. The Black Order leads a platoon of Chitauri, Sakarrans, and Outriders. “But I’ll tell you now, the things I’m about to do to your stubborn, annoying, little planet…” Q-Ships, Dropships, Necrocraft, and Leviathans buzz above, slowly descending on the battlefield, creeping their way towards the crater. “I’m going to enjoy it. Very, very much.” 

Daisy and Coulson stare at Thanos and his army. Even in the face of such overwhelming odds, they both stand up straight, ready to face anything that comes their way. A tear streams down Daisy’s face as she feels Coulson’s warm hand wrap itself around hers. Thanos stares at them, annoyed. Coulson tosses the broken shield aside, activating his blue holographic shield from his robotic arm hand. They both take a deep breath and start walking towards Thanos.

Suddenly, another bright orange light catches Daisy’s eye. She hears what sounds like sparking coming from behind her. She looks over to Coulson, who smiles at her.

“Here comes the calvary.” He says through his smile.


	30. What We're Fighting For

Daisy turns around to look for the source of the light. Her eyes focus on a large sparkling orange portal, which displays the Lighthouse. Piper and Davis exit the portal, leading dozens of SHIELD agents with them. They are all armed with a variety of weaponry. Piper and Davis smile at Daisy and Coulson. Daisy’s mouth falls open as several portals open around her, opening a gateway to locations across the universe. 

Out of the portal from Wakanda, Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, M’baku, and Nakia lead an army of thousands of Wakanda soldiers and the Dora Milaje. Falcon soars out of the portal and circles the skyline. Bucky and Groot exit the portal in front of the Wakanda army. Bucky looks for Steve while Groot looks for Rocket. 

Several portals open up from different planets across the universe. A diverse array of spaceships and troops stream out from the portals, including Kraglin and the Ravagers.

Daisy watches as a portal to Titan, Thanos’ home planet, opens up. Doctor Strange glides down from the pale orange sky with his cape, creating two orange disc shields with his hands. Mantis exits the portal, her antenna’s lighting up. Drax follows, readying his two sharp daggers. Star-Lord flies out of the portal with his rocket boots and activates his helmet. Spider-Man swings out of the portal with his webs and lands on the ground softly. He scans the battlefield, looking for Tony. He hopes that he’ll be able to find him during the battle.

A portal to New Asgard opens up as hundreds of Asgardian troops pour out. At the front of the pack leads Valkyrie on a pegasus, Korg, Miek, and Lady Sif. Korg wields a Sakaaran laser rifle. Miek walks out of the portal in a mechanized suit, with two blades attached to the end. Lady Sif wields a sword in one hand and an iron shield in the other. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, exits the Wakandan portal and lands beside Valkyrie.

As Thor painfully stands up from the pile of rubble Thanos, slammed him into, he watches as another portal slowly opens. The icy winds of Hel blow across the battlefield. Loki steps out of the portal, wearing his green and gold suit with his golden horned helmet, and wielding two long blue daggers. He leads an undead army of Hel-Walkers onto the battlefield. Loki makes eye contact with Coulson for a split second before looking away, embarrassed.

Two people in never-before seen Iron Man suits land on the battlefield with a loud clank. The one wearing the purple and gold Rescue armor lifts up their faceplate, revealing Pepper Potts, who looks both furious and sad. The other, wearing red, gold and sliver armor that Tony left for him in case of his untimely demise, deactivates the Nano Helmet, revealing Harley Keener; Iron Lad.

Sorcerers from all over the world walk out from dozens of portals, conjuring orange magical weapons and shields.

Portals displaying several well known cities appear across the battlefield. A tiny portal from San Francisco opens up and Wasp flies out, enlargening to normal size.

From the streets of Chicago, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Sharon Carter exit the portal onto the battlefield, all carrying an assortment of guns.

A portal from New York City opens up. Several sorcerers exit along with four New York based heroes: The Defenders. Daredevil exits, wearing his signature red suit, his helmet covering his eyes. He wields his Billy Club. Jessica Jones walks out in a leather jacket and looks across the ruins of the battlefield, taking in the somehow beautiful sight. Luke Cage exits wearing a yellow t-shirt and jeans. Iron Fist runs out of the portal, concentrating his chi into his fist, which results in a bright yellow glow.

Six teenagers from Los Angeles exit a different portal: Alex Wilder, Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, Chase Stein, Gert Yorkes, and Molly Hernandez. Alex wields an energy pistol and an energy knife. Nico holds the Staff of One in both hands, slamming it onto the ground. Karolina Dean hands glow with bioluminescent light, lighting up her hands with rainbow colored energy. Chase fiddles with his Fistigons, which light up with orange energy. Gert connects with Old Lace with her mind. Molly’s irises glow with a golden-orange light as she enhances her strength.

Two more teenagers from New Orleans suddenly appear onto the battlefield. They don’t exit from a portal, but rather from the darkness. Cloak channels the Darkforce, creating sharp tendrils out of the darkest corners of the battlefield. Using the Lightforce, Dagger creates two bright white swords out of thin air.

Without warning, the rubble of the Compound explodes behind them. Daisy turns around worried, thinking that Thanos’ ships have begun their assault. Instead, she watches as a gigantic Ant-Man rises from the rubble, holding her friends. Ant-Man extends his giant palm and lets out Fitz, Rhodey, Professor Hulk, and Rocket. Fitz adjusts his robotic arm, switching it to its weaponized mode. Rhodey now wears a new Iron Patriot armor, which he thinks must have been a surprise from Tony.

May and Bobbi exit from the access tunnel, accompanied by Nebula, who helped them defeat the Outriders and led them out. May holds on tightly to the Nano Gauntlet with a pistol in her other hand. Bobbi activates the electricity on her batons. Captain America, Natasha, and Thor get up and join the group behind Daisy and Coulson.

Doctor Strange approaches Wong. "Is that everyone?" He asks.

"What you wanted more!?" Wong shouts at Doctor Strange.

Suddenly, another portal opens, but it isn't from a sorcerer. Daisy hears the loud whipping of a chain. She watches as Robbie Reyes, skull on fire, spins his flaming chain, opening another portal from the Lighthouse. Ghost Rider walks out, holding tightly to his fiery chain. Yo-Yo, Mike Peterson (aka Deathlok), Joey Gutierrez and Jemma Simmons follow him out of the portal. Fitz notices Jemma and sprints over to her, embracing her in a tight hug. They kiss.

"Jemma, what are you doing here?" Fitz asks, staring into her eyes, never wanting to let go.

"I'm protecting the world from evil aliens with the man I love." Jemma says back. They kiss again.

Daisy looks around at everyone they brought back. ‘This is what everything has led to.’ She thinks. ‘This is what we’ve been fighting for.’ She turns around with Coulson to face Thanos and his army. 

“Avengers!” Coulson yells to all of the heroes behind him. He reaches out to summon Mjolnir and catches it in his hand. Coulson turns around, looking at everyone ready to follow him in battle. He thinks about Robin’s prophecy, ‘Phillip J. Coulson, he can put the pieces back together.’ Robin had said. He was the missing piece to the puzzle. Years ago, his death brought the Avengers together. Now, his new life brought them together once again. “Assemble!” Coulson finishes.

Coulson and Daisy lead the charge towards Thanos and his army, followed by the rest of the Avengers, both old and new.


	31. The Final Battle

Several Avengers let out battle cries as they charge towards Thanos and his army. As all of the heroes cross the field, Thano points his blade toward the opposing army with a slight smile on his face. The two mighty armies race towards each other until they clash in the middle.

The giant Ant-Man punches a Leviathan straight out of the air. As another Leviathan flies his way, Wasp zooms through the air, throwing a red disc at it. The Leviathan shrinks and Ant-Man crushes it with his fingers.

Dagger repeatedly creates light daggers and sends them flying into the enemy forces. Cloak sticks out both of his arms. A large cloud of darkness spreads in front of him, completely consuming a Leviathan, sending it to the Darkforce dimension.

On the ground, Captain America, Falcon, Bucky and Sharon Carter all circle up, protecting each other as Chitauri forces attack from all sides. Falcon pierces some Chitauri with his wings, while Bucky and Sharon shoot them with their guns. They all pass Cap’s broken shield around to block the attacks of their enemies. 

Rhodey, Rescue, and Iron Lad fly through the skies above, shooting down Leviathans and enemy ships with ease.

“You got this, kid?” Pepper asks Harley through her coms.

“Yeah! I think I’m getting the hang of this!” Harley says as he shoots a Unibeam out of his chest, eradicating several dropships.

Suddenly, a Chitauri ape knocks Pepper out of the sky. She falls to the ground with a loud thud and is surrounded by Culls. Peter comes to her rescue, swinging from Giant Ant-Man and landing beside her. 

“Activate instant kill!” He shouts to his suit’s AI. Four golden robotic arms protrude out of his Iron Spider suit, mortally stabbing enemies left and right, until all of the enemies surrounding them are dead.

Peter retracts the arms and goes to give Pepper a hug. 

"Where's Tony?" Peter asks, scanning the battlefield around him. "I can't find him anywhere." 

Pepper stares at Peter, her mouth slightly ajar, trying to find the words to say. “He- he didn’t make it.” Pepper says, watching the smile fade from Peter’s face, his heart breaking on the inside. Tears start to form in his eyes. He tries to push his feelings down and runs off deeper into the battlefield, vowing to not let anyone else die.

Thor violently swings Stormbreaker as he becomes surrounded by Chitauri forces. Loki and Lady Sif run up to help Thor. Loki casts out his green magic to create several duplicates of himself to enclose the Chitauri. They begin attacking Loki’s clones, but their attacks go straight through his fake bodies. Loki conjures several daggers and throws them at the Chitauri, using his telekinesis to amplify their force. The daggers instantly kill several of the Chitauri while Thor and Lady Sif annihilate the rest with their weapons. Thor and Loki embrace.

“I told you, brother.” Loki says, pointing towards the rising sun. “The sun will shine on us again.” Thor lets out a loud laugh as he hugs his brother again.

Jemma and Fitz fight back to back in the middle of the battlefield, defending themselves against dozens of Outriders. Jemma fires a machine gun in the crowd of enemies while Fitz uses his robotic arm, shooting red lasers that cut through Outriders like paper.

Suddenly, Chase Stein runs past the two. “Sweet arm!” He yells to Fitz as he shoots orange concussive blasts out of his Fistigons.

Hunter and Bobbi reunite beside Fitz and Simmons.

“Hey, Bob!” Hunter yells over the gunfire as he shoots. “I reckon you missed me?” He says. Before they can continue their conversation, they get pushed back towards Fitz and Simmons. They all stand back to back as waves of Chitauri swarm around them. 

“This is like our first double date, guys!” Hunter shouts. Bobbi scoffs and rolls her eyes as she continues to throw out her electrified batons and recalls them, killing several enemies.

Nearby, the Defenders fight off aliens. They all recognize how big of a jump their superhero jobs have taken. They went from fighting a ninja organization group to aliens from outer space. Jessica, Luke and Iron Fist punch the Chitauri, sending them flying, while Daredevil repeatedly hits them with his Billy Club.

Across the field, May, who is still holding the Nano Gauntlet, suddenly gets surrounded by Outriders. She tries gunning them down, but runs out of ammo. All of the sudden, Coulson comes flying down and slams an electrified Mjolnir onto the battlefield, pulverizing the Outriders that May was fighting. They exchange a quick hug and kiss and get back to fighting, side by side. 

The remaining four of the original six Avengers unite around May and Coulson to protect the Nano Gauntlet. 

"Son of Coul!" Thor shouts over the sound of squealing Outriders. "You really are alive!"

"Nice to see you again, Coulson." Captain America says over his shoulder. "If we all get out of this alive, I'll sign those cards for you." 

Coulson tries his best to keep a cool face, but fails, his smile stretching from cheek to cheek. He was fighting with the Avengers. Some of his heroes. Coulson's arm is slowly becoming tired from swinging Mjolnir for so long, but the enemy forces just keep coming, attempting to steal the Nano Gauntlet away.

“We’ve gotta get these Stones as far away from here as possible!” Coulson shouts to everyone around him.

“No!” Professor Hulk yells back. “We need to get them back where they came from!”

“There’s no way to send them back.” May explains. “Thanos destroyed our time machine.”

“Hold on!” Scott says loudly, towering above them nearby. He shrinks down to normal size and pulls something out of his pocket. A pair of keys. “That wasn’t our only time machine.” He clicks the keys and “La Cucaracha” begins to play in the distance. 

Daisy recognizes the sound of the horn and climbs onto the nearest pile of rubble, scanning the battlefield for Luis’ van. “Does anyone see an ugly, brown van out there?” She says over coms.

Valkyrie flies above on her pegasus, looking for the van. After a couple of seconds, she spots it. 

“Yeah!” She shouts over her coms. “But you’re not going to like where it’s parked!” She looks at the van down below. It sits surrounded by thousands of aliens, deep behind enemy lines.

Steve surveys the field: an army stands between them and the van, air and ground choked with enemies. He takes a deep breath as he formulates a plan.

“Scott, how long do you need to get that thing working?” Steve asks.

“Uh, maybe ten minutes.” He responds over coms.

“Get it started.” Steve says while she shoots aliens coming towards her. “We’ll get the stones to you.” 

Hope Van Dyne, the Wasp, enlarges to normal size next to Scott. “We’re on it, Cap.” Scott and Hope look at eachother, exchanging a quick smile. They shrink down and fly away, towards the van.

“Coulson, you take the Stones.” Steve commands. “You can probably get it further than any of us could.”

“Roger… Rogers…” Coulson says, slightly embarrassed. He reaches out his hands towards May, who tosses him the Gauntlet. Coulson begins to run across the field towards the van, hitting aliens with Mjolnir and blocking their attacks with his Holo Shield. After making it a couple of yards, he is knocked down by a Cull, who lifts his hammer, ready to bring it down on Coulson's. Suddenly, a blue dagger strikes the back of the Cull’s head, killing it instantly. Loki runs up to Coulson, offering his hand to help him up. Coulson hesitates for a moment before accepting his help. 

“Your leg is hurt.” Loki says, pointing to Coulson’s bloodied leg. He pauses for a second. “I can take that.” He says, pointing to the Gauntlet.

“No way, Jose.” Coulson says, shaking his head. “You’ll just take the Stones for yourself.”

“I swear on mine and my brothers lives I will not.” Loki says, looking down at the dirt at his feet. “I don’t want anything to do with those things. I’ve changed since I last saw you.”

Coulson pauses for a moment to think. He sighs and hands the Gauntlet to Loki. Loki then begins walking towards the van, creating several duplicate versions of himself which run in different directions.

“Sorry for killing you, by the way!” Loki yells back as he takes off in a sprint towards the van. Coulson scoffs before continuing to fight aliens all around him. 

Loki runs for a while, feeling his duplicates being killed as the power they used flows back into his body. He reaches Black Panther, who fights in a circle with Nakia, Shuri, M’Baku, and Okoye. T'Challa slashes at Outriders as they jump towards him. Black Panther turns around, noticing Loki, who is out of breath. He looks down at the Gauntlet and back up at Loki.

“Give it to me.” He says, reaching out his hands. Loki tosses it over and Black Panther jumps through the air, his suit glowing bright purple. He lands, slamming his fist against the ground. A dome of purple energy emerges from his suit, knocking back everything in his path. T’Challa runs through the horde but is suddenly knocked off his feet by Thanos. The Gauntlet goes tumbling out of T’Challa’s hands. As Thanos moves in on T’Challa, the wreckage around him begins to float with a slight red tint around it.

Wanda Maximoff hovers in the air above Thanos, her eyes glowing bright red.

“You took EVERYTHING from me!” She yells at Thanos, using her powers to lift the rubble around her into the sky.

“I don’t even know who you are.” Thanos says, looking up at her.

“You will.” She responds with a slightly evil smirk. Without warning, she releases a surge of red energy, hurling wreckage at Thanos. He fights his way through it, slashing the rubble apart with his sword.

T’Challa dives for the fallen gauntlet. Suddenly, Ebony Maw manipulated the earth around him, pulling the Gauntlet toward himself. T’Challa wraps himself around the glove, getting dragged across the field towards Maw.

“I got it!” Peter yells, whizzing through the sky with his webs. T’Challa tosses the Gauntlet into the air and Peter snatches it with one of his webs. Peter lands on the ground and is instantly surrounded by Outriders.

Across the field, Wanda continues to attack Thanos. With her powers, she lifts him into the air, slowly ripping his armor to pieces.

“Rain fire!” Thanos yells, knowing he is unmatched. “Wipe them all out!”

“But, sire,” Corvus Glaive says back while fighting Groot and Rocket. “Our troops!”

“Just do it!” Thanos groans as he is being torn apart by Wanda’s magic.

High above the battlefield, the Sanctuary-2 descends, aiming its cannons at the ground below. The cannons open up and begin to fire. Wanda drops Thanos onto the ground, aiming her magic upwards in an attempt to create a forcefield. She is too late and a missile strikes near her, launching her a couple of feet. The Sanctuary-2 fires down with everything it has. It fires on everyone: both Thanos' army and the heroes. Right before a missle hits them, Cloak grabs Dagger and brings the both of them into the Darkforce dimension temporarily to protect themselves. A missile explodes near M’baku, sending a shard of rubble through his chest. A missle directly hits Drax, blowing his legs clean off. As he bleeds out, he thinks of seeing his wife and daughter again.

The barrage of missiles hits the riverbank. Cracks begin to form. From above, Pepper is the first to notice.

“Um, is anyone seeing this?” Pepper shouts through her coms. Professor Hulk, Doctor Strange, and Daisy turn to see water gushing as the riverbank threatens to collapse. Doctor Strange and Wong run to it and conjure two large runic shields to stop the water from overflowing. Across the battlefield, several sorcerers conjure shields and point them towards the sky, creating large barriers to protect against the missile barrage. Peter cowers in a crater made by a missile as Outriders surround him. Suddenly, Daredevil comes out of nowhere, flipping over Outriders and beating them down with his Billy Club, not being hit once. After defeating them all he approaches Peter.

“I’ll take it from here, kid.” Daredevil tells Peter, who is clutching tightly to the Gauntlet.

Peter nods and hands over the Gauntlet. “How do you see out of that thing?” Peter asks, pointing to the red mask covering his eyes.

“I don’t.” Daredevil responds with a slight smirk before running off. As he runs, he listens to the pounding of the ground as dozens of enemies run towards him. They all approach and try to attack him, but he dodges them perfectly. After a while, he gets trapped in a corner as several Culls, Saakarans, and Outriders surround him. Loud explosions erupt all around Daredevil, but they suddenly go quiet.

Daisy peers out of cover towards the sky and sees the cannons of the Sanctuary-2 swiveling up towards the clouds.

Falcon flies overhead. “What the hell is this?” He exclaims over coms.

“What are they firing at?” Daisy asks, confused.

Rocket looks up to the sky next to Groot. He sees a bright comet flying down from the atmosphere.

“I am Groot.” Groot says nervously.

“Just wait for it.” Rocket says, smiling. He knows what is coming.

Suddenly the comet strikes the Sanctuary-2, ripping straight through it. Out of the other side emerges Captain Marvel. Daisy smiles as she watches Carol grow brighter, going binary. She sends herself through the hull of the ship again with ease. With a loud boom, the ship lists, engines exploding. It falls in a fiery descent, crashing into the water below. Carol flies lower to the ground, teaming up with Wanda, Daisy, and Nebula to obliterate Thanos’ troops around Daredevil.

“I can make it.” Nebula says, grabbing the Gauntlet and turning towards the van, which isn’t too far away.

“I don’t know how you’re going to get through all that-” Daredevil says to Nebula while he listens to the robotic ticking inside of her body.

“Don’t worry-” Wanda starts. A force of women surrounds Nebula. Jemma, Piper, and May reload their guns. Yo-Yo stretches and closes her eyes, slowing her heartbeat and getting ready to run. Bobbi swings her electric batons around and cracks her neck. Daisy forms a quake ball and holds it in her right hand. Natasha puts a clip in each of her pistols and readies her Widow Bites to fire from her wrists. Carol continues to shine as she goes binary, increasing her strength to the max. Shuri fiddles with her vibranium gauntlets, increasing the power of the sonic blasts. Nakia activates her ring blades, causing them to glow with blue energy while Okoye sharpens her spear. Mantis’ antennas tingle as she prepares to put anyone that comes in her way to sleep. Valkyrie sits on her pegasus, getting ready to take off. Lady Sif stands in a battle stance with her sword and shield. Pepper watches the power levels of her suit as she prepares to use most of it against Thanos’ army. Hope switches a flip on her gauntlets to maximize damage as she shrinks down, spreading her wings to fly. Maria Hill and Sharon Carter both reload their pistols, feeling underpowered but determined standing next to all of these heroes. Using the Lightforce, Dagger creates two sharp and large light swords. Jessica Jones cracks her knuckles and fidgets with the buttons on her leather jacket. Nico Minoru stands near the front, creating an energy shield with the Staff of One as they prepare to attack. Karolina Dean’s fists glow with rainbow energy. Gert Yorkes communicates with Old Lace, readying her for the attack. Molly Hernandez’s eyes glow brighter than ever, her strength and durability enhanced tenfold.

“She’s got help.” Natasha finishes with a slight smile. 

With Nebula in the middle, tucking the Nano Gauntlet under her arm, the heroes run towards Luis’ van. Valkyrie, Nico, Pepper, Carol and Hope soar through the air, fighting off Leviathans and dropships. Daisy and Wanda lead the charge, decimating everyone in their path. All of the heroes push to the side one by one to fight off Thanos' army that swarms around them until only Nebula is left running towards the van. At the ridge, Thanos spots Nebula and tracks her path to the van. He watches as Scott opens the back doors to the van, exposing the Quantum Tunnel. Thanos understands immediately and grabs Proxima Midnight’s spear and throws it at the Quantum Tunnel. As Nebula nears the van, the spear hits, causing the van to explode. Nebula snaps her head back and looks at Thanos with disgust. She would not let her father win again. 

Without hesitation, she puts the Nano Gauntlet onto her robotic hand.


	32. The Sacrifice

Energy surging through her veins, Nebula stares across the field at Thanos. She grits her teeth and closes her eyes. Pushing through the pain, she raises her left hand above her head, supporting it with her right hand. As she is about to snap, the pain suddenly stops. She opens her eyes and looks at her hand. Her arm is completely severed and sparks fly out of where the top half of her arm used to be. She feels no pain, just shock. She looks down at the ground. The Nano Gauntlet sits there, still attached to what was her arm, Thanos's blade sitting next to it. Thanos must have thrown his blade at her, cutting her arm off completely.

She looks up from the ground at Thanos. She watches, unable to move, as he charges toward her and the Gauntlet. When he reaches her, he picks her up with both hands and throws her several feet, away from the gauntlet. He separates Nebula's hand from the Gauntlet and instantly puts it on as dozens of heroes hurriedly race towards him, firing everything they can at him. Rescue, Wanda, Carol, Daisy, Iron Lad, Rhodey, Karolina Dean, Mike Peterson and several others shoot from afar. Thanos uses the Time and Space Stones to instantly stop their projectiles. Doctor Strange and other sorcerers restraint Thanos with hundreds of magical orange threads. Using the Reality and Power Stones, he burns the threads like string, causing several sorcerers to be caught on fire. Thor, Coulson, Yo-Yo, and Cap rush Thanos. As Yo-Yo runs with her superspeed, Thanos sees it coming and utilizes the Time Stone to slow her down. Captain America reaches him first, but Thanos jumps to the side and punches him in the face, knocking him out instantly. Thor puts Thanos into a chokehold as Coulson wraps his arms around the Nano Gauntlet. Coulson is able to hold on for several seconds, but is eventually overpowered by Thanos and kicked away. Thanos grabs Thor and throws him several feet over his head. 

"I am inevitable." Thanos says, raising his hand to the sky. He snaps his fingers.

The Nano Gauntlet makes a dull, clunking sound. Thanos turns the gauntlet around to look at the Stones. The Stones no longer emit a rainbow glow from the Gauntlet. They aren’t even in the Gauntlet anymore. Thanos looks over to the army of Avengers surrounding him.

In the very front, Phil Coulson kneels on the ground. With his command, the Infinity Stones sink into his robotic hand, activating instantly. A colorful array of energy surges out of the Stones and channels throughout his body. The entire left half of his body feels like it is on fire. He sits up tall with the Avengers by his side. He will finish this, once and for all…

"And I," Coulson begins to say, looking Thanos dead in the eyes. "am an Agent of SHIELD." 

He snaps his fingers. A flash of white light engulfs the battlefield for several seconds.

As the light fades, Coulson stumbles a couple of feet forward and falls back against the upturned roots of a tree. His robotic hand is smoking. His arm and half of his face is withered and blackened. He studies the battlefield around him. The Black Order vanishes, turning to dust. Thanos turns around slowly in panic and defeat, watching his entire army fade. After they are all erased from existence, Thanos sits down on a piece of rubble, almost contemplatively, and disappears into the air.

May pushes through the large crowd of Avengers around Coulson and runs towards him. The agents of SHIELD gather around near Coulson, standing slightly back as May kneels down in front of him. Daisy tries her best to keep her composure but fails, letting the tears flow. Fitz has him arm tight around Jemma, who buries her head against his chest. Mike Peterson silently thanks Coulson for everything he has done for him. The four remaining of the original six Avengers reminisce about Coulson’s sacrifice all those years ago.

"May..." Coulson says weakly as May sits beside him.

May tries to hold back her tears, staying strong for Coulson. "Coulson, look at me." She says. Coulson struggles to meet her eyes. "We're going to be okay. You can rest now." She leans in and kisses him on the cheek, one last time.

"Not….yet." He says. The words barely make it out of his mouth. He painfully looks over at Daisy. Daisy quickly moves up to Coulson and kneels in front of him. 

"Coulson, it's okay… it's okay..." Daisy sobs. Coulson slowly raises his hand and puts his against her cheek. She leans into his touch and brings her hand up to hold his against her cheek. "We won… you did it…. Please don't leave….Dad…"

Coulson smiles at Daisy before he closes his eyes, his hand dropping limp to the dirt beside him.

Daisy lets out a loud cry. May puts her arm around Daisy to comfort her. Jemma turns away, crying into Fitz’s shoulder. The Avengers stare mournfully. Natasha, Steve, Professor Hulk, and Thor recognize that Coulson died fighting against Thanos. But he didn’t need them or anyone else to avenge him, he did that himself. He was an Avenger.


	33. Death and New Life

Over the next couple of days, funerals are held for everyone who died in the fight against Thanos. People gather in Wakanda to mourn the loss of M’Baku and dozens of Wakandan soldiers. Deep in outer space, the Guardians of the Galaxy give Drax a Ravager funeral. His cremated ashes exit into the vacuum of space in an array of rainbow colors while fireworks explode all around him. Back on Earth, several Avengers gather at Tony and Pepper’s farmhouse to mourn the loss of Tony. After watching a holographic message that Tony left for her and Morgan, Pepper exits the farmhouse with a circular wreath of flowers. She walks slowly down to the lake and rests the flowers onto the still water. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out Tony’s old arc reactor, which reads, “Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart”. She gently places the arc reactor in the middle of the flowers and pushes it off, sending it out into the middle of the lake. At Clint’s farmhouse, a smaller funeral is held with just Natasha, Bruce, Thor, Steve, and Clint’s wife and children. Natasha holds his youngest son, Nathaniel, tightly in her arms. Lila presses her father's bow against her chest as she tries to say goodbye, tears gently falling down her face.

The last funeral to be held is Coulson and Deke’s outside of the Lighthouse. Everyone who fought in the final battle against Thanos gathers to mourn his loss, while also celebrating his life and sacrifice. Standing in front of Coulson’s open casket, Daisy gives a speech. 

“Coulson always said he wanted to be a part of something bigger.” Daisy starts her speech. “Well look around at all of us.” She says, gesturing towards her fellow Avengers. “I think he was something bigger. He was just a man, but he was also so much more than that. He stood up against powerful people, gods even.” She says with a slight chuckle. “He was no less powerful than any of us standing here right now. He was the bravest man I ever knew. He gave up his life so that all of us could live. So that EVERYONE could live…” She trails off, choking on her tears. “I hope none of us in this room ever forget that.” She says, finishing her speech. She looks over at Coulson’s lifeless body for a few seconds before stepping down from the podium.

Those closest to Coulson and Deke walk up to their caskets and place items inside. Steve places a signed set of Captain America trading cards into Coulson’s casket. May puts a postcard from Tahiti into it. Daisy slowly walks up to Deke’s casket and places a single lemon inside. A tear falls from her face. She sniffles and walks away, wiping her wet eyes with her sleeve. Jemma leads Fitz up to Deke's casket, holding his hand. They each carry a lemon. Jemma kisses her lemon and softly puts it on Deke’s chest. Fitz breathes shakily, trying to control his emotions. He slowly puts the lemon into Deke’s casket and begins to break down, tears pouring swiftly down his face. Jemma embraces him a tight hug as he sobs into her shoulder. After a couple of seconds standing there, Jemma walks with Fitz down to the lake. They sit down on the soft sand.

For about a minute, Fitz just sits there with his head in his hands, Jemma rubbing her hand against his back. “I just- I wish I treated him better.” Fitz finally says through his tears, lifting his head up to look out to the setting sun over the water. “I wish I could tell him how much I cared.” He says tearfully.

Jemma sits there for a moment in hesitation, looking at Fitz. “Soon enough, you’ll get the chance. You’ll be able to show him how much you love him.” Jemma says. She pauses. “But first you’ll have to show our daughter.”

Fitz looks over at Jemma and notices her hand on her belly. He sits there in shock for a couple of seconds, trying to comprehend what she’s saying.

“You’re serious?” Fitz says with a smile, looking at Jemma. She nods with a wide smile on her face. Fitz laughs, pulling her into a tight hug, kissing her. “How long?” 

“Well technically, five years.” She says jokingly. “I knew since before Deke told me he was our grandson. So about a month?” Fitz smiles and kisses her again. Jemma rests her head on Fitz’s shoulder as they watch the sun disappear behind the horizon.


End file.
